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January 1, 2001 Dear
Gabby,
Last
year I made a New Year’s Resolution to exercise regularly.
I even joined a gym! I went
twice in January and never again. Gabby,
do you make resolutions? What
resolutions have you been successful in keeping? Resolution
Breaker in British Columbia Dear
Mr. Breaker,
I’ve
gained some wisdom in all my years of living.
And wisdom, by the way, doesn’t automatically arrive with old age. Land sakes, child, I could tell you stories about foolish old
Imagene Hickman that would curl your toes! Old
Imagene announced her New Year’s Resolution during the potluck at the New
Year’s Eve Watch Night Service at church every year.
One year she resolved to lose 50 pounds by Valentine’s Day. Another time she announced that she was resolving to stop
chewing on her fingernails¾just
as soon as she’d bitten off that little piece of fingernail on her pinky. The most ludicrous resolution though, was her resolution one
year to give up chocolate. Anyone
with an ounce of sense knows that women and chocolate are inseparable! Imagene
had three problems with her resolutions: she resolved to do impossible things,
she resolved to do things she really didn’t want to do, and she broadcast her
resolutions to the world. I
do make resolutions myself. Two of
them, as a matter of fact. I’ve
had the same two every year since I turned 90 years old a few years back.
And, although I make my resolutions quietly to the Lord, I guess it
wouldn’t hurt¾just
this once¾to tell someone else what they are. I
resolve every January to continue breathing every day and every night. (At my
age, that’s quite a challenge!) I
also determine that I’m going to live each of my days doing things that please
God. So far, I’ve been successful
in keeping the first resolution, and I’m working, moment by moment, on the
second half. I
hope, Mr. Breaker, that you’ll make logical and God-pleasing resolutions this
year. Those are the only ones
you’ll be successful in keeping! Sincerely
Sincere, Dear
Gabby,
I’m
female, 32 years old and still single. Friends
tell me I’m attractive. Why
doesn’t someone love me? Will I
be single forever? Lonely
in Louisiana Dear
Miss Lonely,
Harry’s
little niece Edna was a lovely young woman who spent a large portion of her life
single. She was courted by a few gentlemen, but none of them seemed to be the
right one. For several years¾I believe it was during her late 20s and early
30s¾Edna
was depressed. She continued to go
through the motions of living her life, doing the right things, but her heart
just wasn’t in it. “Who
am I, Aunt Gabby?” she asked me plaintively once.
“I always thought I’d be someone’s wife by this time in my life.” For
once, I didn’t have much to say¾at
least not to her. But, goodness
gracious, did I complain to God! When
I finally stopped my tirade to Him, God gave me assurance that he had Edna’s
life in His hands. I took that to
mean He had a husband waiting for her, so I immediately started looking around
to see which male would be the one to change her life. It
ended up being Billy Turner. He ran
into Edna a few weeks later. Literally.
Was he tall, dark, and handsome? Nope.
He was a 6-year-old, freckle-faced tornado with wispy brown hair sticking
straight up from his cowlicks. His
skinny legs were twisted from polio. But that didn’t stop him from careening into Edna who’d
been meandering through City Park. Billy
was racing (on crutches!) against Maria Montoya’s 7-year-old son Mario and was
even gaining on him before he ran into Edna. “He
should’ve been sitting in a wheeled-chair, with a blanket over his lap,
feeling sorry for himself, Aunt Gabby,” Edna told me later.
“Instead, he was competing against an able-bodied boy with such
determination to win. It was
amazing. Little Billy chose to
ignore his handicap and have as much fun as all the other little boys!” From
that day on, Edna made a conscious decision to pull herself up out of her
self-pity and to use her able body to live life to the fullest.
And, my oh my, did she live it! Not
only did she work at her job to pay the bills and continue her ministries; she
also volunteered to teach illiterate adults to read and helped to feed the
hungry once a month. She became a
Big Sister to a disadvantaged little girl named Penny.
She even spent a few months assisting a missionary family in Africa.
And, of course, she befriended Billy Turner and his family. When
Edna found a moment to stop by to visit me, she was always between appointments,
breathless and glowing. What
stories she’d tell about little Penny’s antics or old Mrs. Wallace reading
Dr. Seuss for the first time in her life. Edna’s
words would tumble over each other, punctuated by her laughter.
Even I had a hard time getting a word in edgewise! So
did Tom Wilson, I understand. He
was the widower who had his eye on Edna. She
was way too busy to be courted by a man¾even
one who was tall, dark, handsome, and very interested.
He had to work incredibly hard to catch Edna, but he finally did, just
before her 40th birthday. “It
was like trying to catch a whirlwind,” he told me at their wedding reception,
smiling over at his new wife, “but what an exciting life we’re going to have
together!” And
they did, filling their home with the noise and activities of several children,
one biological, two adopted, several guardianships, and countless who just
stopped by (for days at a time) so as not to miss all the fun! Little
Edna showed the world that a full, exciting life is an attractive life. I’ve thought, many times, that she could’ve been totally
happy even if Tom hadn’t courted her. She
had filled her life with good deeds¾which
made it a good life as a result. Sincerely
Sincere, ninetyandnine.com ã 2000, ninetyandnine.com --------- Gabrigail VanBurden has been offering advice for longer than most of you have been alive.
Email your practical Apostolic life questions to Gabby@ninetyandnine.com and be
prepared for some straight answers!
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