Mountain Home Veterans Affairs Center, Johnson City
“Life is a great bundle of little things.”
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., 1809-1894
One of best regarded American poets of 19th cty.
Category Archives: Oliver Wendell Holmes
Seasons Change
Bass Lake, Blowing Rock, NC
“The foliage has been losing its freshness through the month of August,
and here and there a yellow leaf shows itself like the first gray hair
amidst the locks of a beauty who has seen one season too many.”
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., 1809-1894
One of best regarded American poets of 19th cty.
Insight
Buladean, NC
“A moment’s insight
is sometimes worth
a lifetime’s experience.”
Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., 1841-1935
Locks of Beauty
Virginia Creeper Trail
“The foliage has been losing its freshness
through the month of August,
and here and there a yellow leaf shows itself
like the first gray hair amidst the locks of a beauty
who has seen one season too many.”
Oliver Wendell Holmes
Stretching
Grandfather Mountain swinging bridge
“Man’s mind, once stretched by a new idea,
never regains its original dimensions.”
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
Young
“To be 70 years young
is sometimes far more cheerful and hopeful
than to be 40 years old.”
Oliver Wendell Holmes, 1809-1894
Stretched
“Man’s mind, once stretched by a new idea,
never regains its original dimensions.”
Oliver Wendell Holmes, 1809-1894
Truth is Tough
“Truth is tough. It will not break, like a bubble, at a touch;
nay, you may kick it about all day like a football,
and it will be round and full at evening.”
Oliver Wendell Holmes, 1809-1894
Peace
Tulip tree blossom
“Lord, bid war’s trumpet cease;
Fold the whole earth in peace.”
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., 1809-1894
One of best regarded American poets of 19th cty.
Little Things
Mountain Home Veterans Affairs Center, Johnson City
“Life is a great bundle of little things.”
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., 1809-1894
One of best regarded American poets of 19th cty.
Changing Seasons
Price Lake Trail, m. 297 on the Blue Ridge Parkway
“The foliage has been losing its freshness through the month of August,
and here and there a yellow leaf shows itself like the first gray hair
amidst the locks of a beauty who has seen one season too many.”
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., 1809-1894
One of best regarded American poets of 19th cty.
Happy Mother’s Day
Rhododendron
“Youth fades; love droops; the leaves of friendship fall;
A mother’s secret hope outlives them all.”
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., 1809-1894
One of best regarded American poets of 19th cty.
REFLECTIONS
Five years ago last month, my family almost lost the most important woman in our lives when the car my mother and my then-3-year-old nephew, Charlie, were driving in down Interstate 77 north of Charleston, WV (on their way to see me), wrecked. The car rolled six times, throwing Charlie out of his car seat and out of the car as it rolled across the interstate and trapped my mother unconscious and upside down.
While my family was rushing to the hospital that day — my dad and brother from Ohio, my brother from Kentucky, and me from Tennessee — hoping to arrive and at least stand by mom’s side before she might die, we all were consumed with emotions and memories. None of us were ready to lose her, and yet none of us doubted her salvation and future. My mother is a woman who exemplifies the qualities of a godly wife and mother as portrayed in Proverbs 31. She is a devoted wife; a diligent partner to her husband; she is a dutiful servant with a vision for ministry not only to her family but to society; she is a dependable mother, devoted to the needs of her family beyond all else; and she is a woman full of God’s wisdom who has made Christ a priority in the life of her family.
So many miracles happened that day — true miracles — and thankfully God answered our selfish prayers and granted us hopefully many more years with my mom. Mother’s Day continues to remind us of how blessed we are.
But Mother’s Day has lately been a tricky holiday for me, and I’m sure for many others. Some of you have lost your mothers — recently or long ago — and this day is therefore bittersweet. And others may have had mothers who abandoned them, mistreated them, or mothers who refused to stand by their side, and those people can find no reason to honor their mothers on this day. Some women have struggled through years of trying to have children but never conceiving and therefore find this day difficult.
For me, I love to honor and thank God for my beautiful mother. But I also am torn and conflicted each Mother’s Day because year after year I watch more and more of my friends and peers become moms while my chances for that tick away with little hope of it ever happening.
So instead I hope God can use me in other ways. And though I may never be a mother, I hope that I have at least been a mother-figure when needed in the lives of others. Motherhood comes in all shapes and sizes. Whether you are a mother or a mother-figure, or whether you have a mother or many mother-figures in your life, use this day to look around you and thank them, and thank God for them.
I love you Mom! Thank you for loving me.
Seasons Change
Bass Lake, Blowing Rock, NC
“The foliage has been losing its freshness through the month of August,
and here and there a yellow leaf shows itself like the first gray hair
amidst the locks of a beauty who has seen one season too many.”
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., 1809-1894
One of best regarded American poets of 19th cty.
