From the Cobwebs: NO SALE

 I know some of you who subscribe to this blog think I have a special way with words. I like hearing it, but I gotta tell ya...my mother was waaaayy better. It must have been a partial writing gene from HER, along with the auburn hair gene that got twisted into my DNA strand upon my conception sometime in the month of January of 1969. (Edit, To be truthful...information attained after the original writing has put that conception somewhere in the Autumn of 1968) One of the poems she wrote really struck me and I wanted to share it.

NO SALE

You can't bargain for tomorrow.
Time is never yours to trade.
Tomorrow isn't offered.
Until Today's been paid.

You can't pay with cash or check
or money order form.
You'll not get a warning notice,
or grace because of storm.

Life gives you but a minute,
The one you have right now.
It's up to you to fill it,
Someway...somewhere...somehow.

You may not have another.
There is no guarantee
And no way to force one second
With any court's decree.

When your last second slides away,
your eternity begun.
Will you say, "I paid today..."
or did you squander one?

Pattalee Glass-Ford-November 1971

This poem made me cry when I read it. It was written by a woman who still had some connection with the church which belongs to Christ and with the values she was taught during her childhood. But she made her choice. I guess the tears I shed were useless because we can't change the past and we can't decide what other people do. But, we can heed the advice given by the young 28-year-old Mrs. Ford and use each moment wisely serving the God we know lives and loves us.