Today is the anniversary of my grandmother's birth. She was born Dec. 15, 1914, and died in April 2015, not long after her 100th birthday celebration.
I think I expected other family members to live very long lives also, but that was not to be. My mother passed this year at only 86 and her next younger sister at 74.
Many of our long-time Pea Ridge residents have died this year. Their passings from this world have prompted family and friends to reflect upon their lives, to remember, to reminisce.
How will we be remembered?
Do we live each day as though it were our last?
As we navigate the holiday season and approach the end of the year, we begin to reflect, to be introspective.
Do you intentionally consider the choices you've made and are making? Do you consider the relationships you engage?
Do you choose your friends, your companions, wisely?
My mother often counseled me that a friend who made foolish choices would more likely influence me for folly than I would them otherwise.
"Can two walk together, except they be agreed?" the prophet Amos asked centuries ago.
Usually, we have something in common with our friends. And, if we don't initially, we become more alike the more time we spend together.
Years ago in our culture, Sunday was a different day than the other six days of the week. Church parking lots were full. Store parking lots were empty and stores were closed. Occasionally a gasoline station (we called them filling stations) was open, but it was the exception instead of the rule.
Today, Sunday is not much different than the work week except some stores don't open until noon.
There are many young people in our schools who not only don't attend church, they are the children of parents who didn't grow up in church. Does church attendance guarantee one a place in Heaven? No. But, it is beneficial, especially if the preacher teaches the truth, and exposes one to a moral standard which should call them to good character.
An old preacher, J. Vernon McGee, once said: "A cat having kittens in the oven doesn't make them biscuits." Thereby, going to church doesn't make one good. But it exposes one to good teaching. What ones does with that is their choice.
Today, many people are not in church because of the gross hypocrisy they see in church members. Sadly, it's true. There are hypocrites in church. There are sinners in church. It's been said that if you find a perfect church, don't join because you'll cause it to not be perfect.
That's the point. There are none perfect. We're all creatures in need of redemption. Until we see our need, our potential for folly and, even evil, our own culpability, we'll sit in judgment off others.
Yet, Jesus taught often about being judgmental and condemned the pious, religious leaders for their condemnation of others instead of their mercy and compassion.
The former editor of this newspaper, Billie Jines, had a sign on her wall quoting Micah 6:8: "He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God."
As Jesus told his disciples: "But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy and not sacrifice; for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance." (Matthew 9:13) That was said after being condemned by the religious leaders for eating with people who they deemed less than themselves.
It's not about empty works. It's not about belonging to the right organization. It's about character.
From living long, hopefully we learn that we all fall, we all fail, but we may choose to get back up and not repeat the same mistakes. That makes us more understanding of others.
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Editor's note: Annette Beard is the managing editor of The Times of Northeast Benton County, chosen the best small weekly newspaper in Arkansas for five years. A native of Louisiana, she moved to northwest Arkansas in 1980 to work for the Benton County Daily Record. She has nine children, six sons-in-law, one daughter-in-law, nine grandsons and five granddaughters with another due soon. The opinions expressed are those of the author. She can be reached at [email protected].