You Can’t Take It with You When You Go
Loren Hardin
The Ashland Beacon
This is part four of a series about Carolyn who was sixty-nine, when she enrolled in hospice services with Parkinson's disease. Carolyn suggested, “When you stop fighting your sickness you start fighting each other.” Then Carolyn’s husband, Charlie, declared, “That’s why I look so bad. I’ve been beaten on the head and face for a long time.” Carolyn replied, “No it’s not! You were born that way!”
Carolyn was on a roll that day and added, “When Charlie would come home from work, he would say, ‘I’m hungry. What’s for dinner?’ And I would tell him, ‘Just go in the bathroom and look in the mirror and you’ll get fed up real fast’”. Carolyn looked over at me with a self-satisfied grin as if to say, “That was a pretty good one, wasn’t it?” And it was.
But Charlie was on a roll of his own and alleged that “Love is blind, but marriage sure is an eye opener. A fellow has to be careful because puppy love can lead to a dog’s life.” Then Charlie put all joking aside and fondly smiled at Carolyn and said, “I’m just kidding; I’ve had the best wife a man could ever ask for.” Charlie meant it, and Carolyn knew it.
Charlie reflected, “I was born into this world with nothing, and I have it all left. But God has blessed and enabled Carolyn and I to help a lot of people along the way. If we had all the money back that we’ve given away, we would be living in a much better house. But you can’t take it with you when you go. I’ve preached a lot of funerals in my time, and I’ve never seen a hearse followed by a U-Haul or a Brinks armored truck. And the last time I checked the mortality rate is still 100 %. “
Jim Elliott (1927-1956) was one of five missionaries martyred while attempting to evangelize the Huaorani Indians of Ecuador. Some of you may have seen the movie about their lives and mission titled, “The End of the Spear”. Jim Elliot kept a journal, jotting down what came to mind as he fixed his eyes on God. On October 28, 1949, he wrote, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose”. Little did he know, seven years later that it would be his very life he would give.
“Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves’ treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal…” (Jesus, Matt 6:19 – 21); “Godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out,” (The Apostle Paul, 1Timothy 6: 6-7).
Loren Hardin was a social worker with Southern Ohio Medical Center Hospice for twenty-nine years. He can be reached at 740-357-6091 or at lorenhardin53@gmail.com. You can order Loren's book, "Straight Paths: Insights for living from those who have finished the course", at Amazon.
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