Saved.One.by.Grace
New member
My parochial grade school is having a 50th year reunion this fall. Because the reunion is being held two states away, and more importantly because of the state of my wife's health and my own, I've been forced to politely turn down the invitation.
Through e-mail correspondance, I've been able to find out four of my classmates are no longer living having died under various circumstances over the years. I remember the good times had in grade school and some not so good. I remember the fights, all but one I lost, but more importantly I remember the whispers.
I remember one of my "friends" coming up to me on my way home from school saying "boy, you're ugly". That stuck with me but I haven't thought about it in years. I remember playing golf with my dad and taking a real good look at myself in the mens room at the turn. I saw the many pock-marks from acne that my parents decided where too expensive to treat. I now knew I was indeed ugly. I accepted myself as I was, what else could I do? My grade school class had a set of male twins. I was friendly with both and could tell them apart. I remember walking home one afternoon from school and heard the twins arguing several steps in front of me. One made a negative remark about me while the other twin stuck up for me, "oh he's all right". A wringing endorsement if I ever heard one.
I've had a limited dating life, but the five women I have dated were all beautiful. Somehow, four of these women saw something others could not see, including me. The other one was a blind date but we seemed to hit it off. I became engaged to two of the five young women eventually marrying my wife. As I've indicated often, we've been happily married for 34+ years. She saw something in me that I didn't see in myself.
God works everything out per His design and His sovereign will.
Through e-mail correspondance, I've been able to find out four of my classmates are no longer living having died under various circumstances over the years. I remember the good times had in grade school and some not so good. I remember the fights, all but one I lost, but more importantly I remember the whispers.
I remember one of my "friends" coming up to me on my way home from school saying "boy, you're ugly". That stuck with me but I haven't thought about it in years. I remember playing golf with my dad and taking a real good look at myself in the mens room at the turn. I saw the many pock-marks from acne that my parents decided where too expensive to treat. I now knew I was indeed ugly. I accepted myself as I was, what else could I do? My grade school class had a set of male twins. I was friendly with both and could tell them apart. I remember walking home one afternoon from school and heard the twins arguing several steps in front of me. One made a negative remark about me while the other twin stuck up for me, "oh he's all right". A wringing endorsement if I ever heard one.
I've had a limited dating life, but the five women I have dated were all beautiful. Somehow, four of these women saw something others could not see, including me. The other one was a blind date but we seemed to hit it off. I became engaged to two of the five young women eventually marrying my wife. As I've indicated often, we've been happily married for 34+ years. She saw something in me that I didn't see in myself.
God works everything out per His design and His sovereign will.