Then and Now

Something going on today is really reminding me of my mother.  I told you some things about her here.  I remember so well our family watching the political conventions on our little black and white television set.  Mother got so excited about getting to see all those activities.  (Somehow they seemed a lot more fun in those days!)  I think they were her favorite television event.

Mother died in 1961.  Just think of how different the world is now from the time she lived.  Too many big and small ways to possibly count, but I often think...what would she think if she stepped back into this world today?  (Not that she would want to.  She's wearing that robe and walking those streets of gold that I've been singing about!)

What would someone who never flew on a plane think about our trans-world jumbo jet flights?  About our trips to Russia, Germany, and Japan--"enemy territory"?  The farthest from home Mother ever got was a trip to New York City in a car without air conditioning, packed with our family of five.  
She would surely think that almost $4.00 a gallon for gasoline is a mistake--not that Mother ever put gas in a car in her life!  Unthinkable!  She probably didn't even know the price, but it was about 29 cents per gallon.

I wonder what she would think about the fact that I wear pants most of the time--even to church!  I don't think I ever saw her in anything but a dress. 

This is a small thing, but I don't think Mother ever tasted pizza.  I'm sure it existed in that day, but it had not exploded on the scene yet.  (Jack Stovall helped with that!  He eventually built all the Pizza Huts in northwest Texas!)

What would someone who had one stationery dial telephone for a family of five think about every member of a family driving around in cars while talking into a tiny little instrument--or into the air because of something called--of all things--"bluetooth?"  Would she wonder how she lived without that?

In Mother's day, "first came love, then came marriage, then came the baby carriage"!  Courts were not packed with unmarried couples hashing out their differences after playing house failed.  (I know all about this from Judge Judy.)

Perhaps the one that gets me the most is the sign which is now posted near schools. "This is a drug-free, weapon-free zone."  What?

I realize this is far from a comprehensive list.  These are just things which keep occurring to me.  So...what has not changed at all?  Well, the sun still comes up in the morning and goes down at night.  It may be hidden behind clouds, but it hasn't missed a day since Mother has been gone.  The seasons still change as they did then.  The only constants in this world are the ones controlled by its Creator.

God's love is the same...yesterday, today, and forever.