STORIES & SUCH

"Man that is born of a woman, is of a few days, and full of trouble." JOB 14:1

I remember this being spoken so many times throughout

my life by my dad, and I often thought of the implications

of the quoted verse. When I was at the tender age of pre-teen

I only gazed in wonderment of the statement. "What", I would

question myself, "does being born of a woman have to do with

troubles?"

Any time he would hear of a circumstance which implied

grief, suffering, or misfortune by any individual, Dad would

utter forth the verse. With a nod of his head, and with what

I guessed to be self-understanding, he would add; "Lord knows

it's true."

Dad was a devout Christian, firm in his beliefs and was

totally devoted to his family. Born in a rural area of West

Virginia in 1915, he grew up in trying times, and in a lesser

world than many. His Mother died when he was two years old,

and his Dad labored to raise his only child at that time the

best he could.

Sometimes this meant that Dad would crawl deep into the

coal mines with my grandpa, this when he was only at an age

of four or five. It was either be at the mines, or be left at

home to fend for himself. Dad remembered those youthful days

vividly, and spoke of them often in later life, followed by

the quote of JOB 14:1.

He made it a point that we kids were aware of the hardships

and struggles he had known in his life. The stories of his youth

were filled with loneliness, and accounts of little or no food

on the table; or the cold of winter disturbing youthful sleep.

For Dad, there were many discomforts which were commonplace.

Once he reached adulthood and married Mom, there came the

onset of World War II. He had moved to eastern Kentucky by this

time, and the draft called him away. After five years and five

months of service he returned to work in the coal mines near

his home. He spent several years laboring deep in the mines

of eastern Kentucky. Then he and Mom decided to move north to

Ohio in hopes of an easier and more prosperous life.

My brother and sister were born in eastern Kentucky prior

to my parents move north. I would be introduced to life later

in Dayton Ohio. I grew accustomed to early life in or near the

city. But, as it had been the standard for Dad's life, a new

struggle began when I reached age eleven. An accident on the

job forced Dad into an early retirement, and much lesser bene-

fits. Unable to physically provide for his family, we were up-

rooted and moved back to Kentucky in hopes of lessening financial

strains.

After the move, my teen age years went flying by me, I

would still hear the quote, and I would still be at a lost of

understanding. It would take decades for me to finally understand

his interpretation. It would come with age I suppose, that

lost interpretation, that lost understanding of why he chose

so often to quote that particular verse.

I would be well into my forties with a family of my own

before I came to understand. And, even then it would come with

a loss, and that loss being my Dad's passing. Then I understood

what he had been saying for so many, many years.

It was not being born of a woman, per se, which would bring

our troubles, rather our troubles begin with that first glimpse

into our own fleeting life. We are from that first instance

on a course to death, and the toils and troubles we encounter

in our brief existence weigh heavily on our shoulders throughout

life.

The labors we endure shadow our happiness, and we rush

forward through an already short life trying to find a secure

balance between the happiness and the sorrows we encounter.

We hope that the rewards we seek are sweet and never bitter,

but life tends to manufacture a balance in its own way. We,

as individuals, must find a neutrality within that balance

in which we learn to accept the sorrow, and cherish the happiness

of our lives with some sort of equality. And, in that equality

remain faithful and devoted to our beliefs.

Now, that I face the autumn of my own life, I feel that

I have finally understood why Dad chose that particular verse

to echo the facets of his life. As I glance back through the

eyes of time to days of long lost youth, I can only touch a

myriad of memories. And now I understand, Dad was preparing

me through the years for the uncertainties which life shall

present to me personally.

With the quote of that particular verse of JOB, which he

chose to use time and time again; Dad instilled within me an

unshakable quality to accept the inevitable, yet have faith,

and to trust in ones self, as well as the God who graciously

gave to us the sweetness of tender life and the promise of an

eternal peace.

The End