People come and go... but the family lives on

As part of the eulogy for his uncle, David stressed that Peter hadn’t gone.

He was still very much here, in his children and grandchildren.

A week later Peter’s daughter Jennie stopped by with a gift.

He walked her back out to the car park, but they stopped half-way to talk some more.

That’s when Jennie’s husband – who had stayed in the car with their two young children – wound down the window and shouted to them.

One of the little ones,

JOHN told me of a strange thing a young man said to him.

“He said: ‘I’ve been watching you and I like the way you humble yourself for your wife.’

“I didn’t know what to make of that but, thinking about it, he was right.

“I don’t humble myself TO her, I humble myself FOR her, making sure her happiness is always my first priority.”

I asked what became of that young man.

John smiled and told me: “He married my daughter. And now he does the same for her.”

“Happy is the humble husband,” I thought to myself as I walked on, “for he shall have a contented wife, and that will make him the happiest of men.” who had never met David, had looked out the car window and said: “There’s mum! She’s talking to grampa.”

David was touched and honoured to think his Uncle Peter’s attributes might also be seen in him.

“The individuals come and go,” he told me. “but the family lives on.”

I HEAR there is a new website that will send anonymous messages to co-workers for us.

If we feel someone needs to pay more attention to their personal hygiene, or if they talk too loud on the phone, or even if they just have bad breath, the site will politely point it out to them without seeming to involve the person making the complaint.

There are always times when we wish someone would tackle a difficult or embarrassing issue for us. But how would it would feel being the co-worker who received such an email?

How about tackling the issue from the other direction, with friendship and communication?

Thorny issues surely become less prickly that way.

The roses in the garden In all their splendoured hue, Show God’s eternal pardon,

And love for me and you.