THAT'S ENOUGH!

November 22, 2015
Dear friends,
        There comes a time to say “enough.” Yesterday I called the director of the local Messiah Choir and told her I would no longer be coming to rehearsals or singing the music. I told her I could no longer understand what she says nor hear the others in my section. I hung up the phone, put my worn Messiah book on the shelf and felt good about it. After sixty years of singing in choirs, it was time to say “enough.” I will still sing, of course, so long as I have a voice for hymns and fun songs, but no longer in a choir. Doing this was difficult.
        It reminded me of when my Dad stopped driving. He was 90 and ironically only a few months before had taken his one and only Driver’s Test. He had purchased his first Minnesota Driver’s License seventy years before, at a time they didn’t require a driving test, and since he’d never moved out of the state nor had his license revoked, the state just kept renewing his license. At age eighty-nine he got a ticket and was told he must take a written Driver’s Test. We all hoped he wouldn’t pass, but he did, and with the joy of winning a gold medal!
         But then he was hospitalized many weeks. After getting back on his feet, he called my brother and asked if they could go for a drive. Fritz reluctantly sat on the passenger side as Dad slowly drove his trusty Plymouth out of town to the old farm, taking the familiar gravel roads, past neighbors farms now vacant, on a route he could have driven blindfolded. Back in town Dad drove carefully into his garage. Then he handed Fritz the keys and said, “That’s enough.” His old car was still there seven years later when he died.
        There comes a time to say goodbye to earthly things we've enjoyed, activities we can no longer do, a time to say “enough” to some things of life we’ve treasured. Some will consider this a very sad time, but others will find pleasure in knowing they no longer need do them, that there are better things yet to come, finer things God has in store for His people.
        I am a long ways from ending my driving or singing, but it’s time to modify. No more all-day car trips, no more lifting hundred pound sacks, no more singing Messiah. But instead of cursing my weakness, I’m concentrating on what I still enjoy doing. Seventy is young by today’s standards, although I probably won’t make ninety-seven like Dad did. Nor am I sure I want to.
        But I will sing as long as the Good Lord gives me voice and time, and I will drive and work until I know it’s “enough.” Meanwhile, I will look for a little joy every day, especially in trusting God and in seeing my beloved young discover their joys in the world they now experience.

It's time to “Sing to the Lord a new song.” (Psalm 149:1)

Rev. Bob Tasler
www.bobtasler.com