Hindsight

Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.”
Isaiah 30:21
 

This is a scripture verse I think about a lot. I love the confidence—that if I inadvertently veer off the pathway of God, He will call out to me with direction. Whenever I reflect on such things, it doesn’t take long before living examples appear all around me.

Out in the park this morning, I saw a man training his dog, calling out when his border collie lost sight of a far-flung tennis ball. With words, whistles, and hand motions, he directed his prancing but attentive dog to make its way to the right and go out further until he lined up with the brightly colored ball. How eager he was to run in the path of his master’s commands!

I see it now as my parents sort through a lifetime of precious items as they seek to condense their possessions into an assisted living space. Dad voices how difficult it is to see that the library of his technical journals and manuals, comprising his entire career, no longer needs to be curated. “This stuff is a gold mine,” he says. I repeatedly remind him from another part of the basement, “It sure is, but it’s all completely online these days.” It’s hard for him to register.  

I snatch a glimpse of Mom as she sits in a back bedroom poring through shoeboxes of cards saved from countless birthdays, anniversaries, and celebrations. She smiles, enjoying and reliving all the “feels” of days gone by. “Hey Rus, look what your daughter wrote on my birthday in 2005. So sweet, I’d all but forgotten these, how wonderful.” These things call to something sweet from way back behind.

To anyone else it just looks like work, and huge work it is, but amidst all the stacking and packing, we’ve found some amazing family memorabilia long forgotten but appreciated. 

Nothing jogs the memory like old photo albums, boxes of prints, Kodak slide carousels, and Super 8 movie cartridges. An old card table soon housed our dusty old projectors, photos, and slides. A torn movie screen proudly illuminated old movies of Christmases and school graduations of years ago. Color palettes and hair styles of the 50's, 60's, and 70's, horn-rimmed glasses and bellbottom jeans, as well as the family Buick all made appearances as we ate our Chipotle at our homemade drive-in theater. We were so captivated—we ate slowly, smiled broadly, and laughingly remembered those days. The ancient projector bulb blew before we could finish them all, and where do you find a vintage 1975 projector bulb quickly? So, it was back to the sorting for us.

Harry, my mother's father (Granddad)

I touched the back wall of a basement closet under the stairs for the first time and found more forgotten treasures—audio reel-to-reels, VHS and cassette tapes by the hundreds, all covered in dust. My grandfather was fascinated with personal tape recorders when they first came on the market. He loved recording conversations around dinner tables and holiday family gatherings, convinced that we’d thank him one day. Grandmother and Granddad, aunts and uncles, cousins and friends would all laugh and tell their best jokes and stories. 

My aunt, great-grandmother, and grandparents 

My mother and her parents

I found cassette tape albums with notes on their sides: “Table talk,” “Kids talking and singing,” “Granddad telling stories,” “Interview with Grandmother,” etc. I scoured the house hoping for an old cassette player and found an old Sony boombox with a cassette deck and enjoyed a blast from the past.

As Mom and I sorted through items for an upcoming garage sale, I stuck “Interview with Grandmother” into the cassette deck and pressed Play. I heard a scratchy recording of my granddad asking his elderly mother, "What would be your spiritual advice to me from your years of following Jesus?" My mom stopped her sorting and listened intently to her saintly prayer warrior grandmother’s response. She said, “Be patient, grow the fruit of the Spirit in your life, follow His leading, and steer clear of the love of money,” among other things.

“Wow, that’s incredible,” she said. “Their voices sound so young. I don’t remember ever hearing this before, and it’s still good advice!”

It’s no mystery that the human heart is prone to wander, but course correction often comes from behind. There are many hours yet of shifting through these “captures of the past,” but there’s time. 

How about you? Notice anyone calling to you from behind?