Friday, October 23, 2015
Wandering Along the Path: Right Speech
I had a walk with a friend yesterday, and I appreciated the talking being mild and gentle. This friend and I can get at odds pretty quickly, so I'm happy when the discussion is easy. She brought some love letters between her parents that her brother had found recently. I read one from each parent and then she selected one of each to read aloud to me. They were from the 1920's and very touching. Both were Swedish, from farm families, and living in North Dakota. She was 19 years younger than he. There was a lot of reference to God and prayer, as they were both Pentecostals and met at a night prayer meeting in a tent. There was so much gratitude in the letters, though she had lost her mother at two and her father remarried and lost wives several times afterward. Her older sister fell in love and followed a man to New York, and when he rejected her, she killed herself. It was a hard life on the prairie, and yet, and yet, they loved passionately, married quickly, and had five children. They spoke of their good fortune instead of their hardships. She couldn't afford a wedding or a dress, and he had to postpone the honeymoon until after the corn was harvested. Their religion gave them hope and strength. I was touched and their loving words, so many decades later, being discovered and appreciated by their children.
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