Fasting in the World

By the time you’re reading this and waiting for the next issue of Canadian Cowboy to arrive Bonny and I will have been married for 25 years. We will have six grandchildren and a barn full of memories. Some good, some bad, some just memorable. The years have gone by quickly, while some days have dragged on. I want to reach up into the hayloft and relive the day I spoke of the fastest thing in the world.

Most folks know some of my story. In the words of Ron Anderson, ‘’Bryn’s so lazy he married a gal that already had three kids.’’ I was old enough that I should have been in a two-rein, but when it came to marriage, I was barely halter broke. To help me ease into life as a husband and father, Bonny got a job in town at the school. This served a double purpose; it got the kids to school, we live far enough back that the bus doesn’t come, and it gave me time to adjust to having someone around.

It was in the early spring; Bonny had caught a bug and was feeling poorly. I offered her a shot of penicillin and some “home” cures, but she declined, so I had to take the kids to and from school for a couple of days. About the second day, I engaged the kids in a conversation about their day and observations of life.

One of them, I don’t remember which, observed I didn’t drive as fast as their mother. Given the condition of her vehicle and the road she travelled, I’d suspected that. I also saw this as a teachable moment, so I asked them what they thought was the fastest thing in the world?

Lane, the youngest, answered first. “The fastest thing in the world is electricity.” When I asked why he said, “When you flip the switch, the light comes on right away.” (He was too young to remember fluorescent bulbs.)

Orin answered next, showing his unique way of thinking. It’s ‘blinking,”’ he said. When I asked for an explanation, he grinned and said, “You ever see yourself blink?”

I then asked Casey, and she replied with the wisdom of a 10-year-old girl. She gave me the look every father knows well and replied, “The fastest thing in the world is thinking.” This answer baffled me as much as a politician, so I asked her how she came up with that? She sighed and said, “You ever notice before you have a thought, it’s already there so you can think it?” (I’m still baffled.)

Then all three looked at me and asked what I thought the fastest thing in the world was? I replied, ‘diarrhea.’ This brought the expected “Gross!” “Yuck!” and other replies. “But,” I said, “Think about it. The other night when Lane got sick, before he could blink, think or turn on the light, it was too late.”

If we ride back into today and look for a lesson to take hold of, we learn this. We accumulate and store a lot of memories in the span of time, both good and bad. We have some of both with all we’ve been through in the last few years. Take the words of Philippians 4:8 to be a guiding star. “Reach back in the storehouse of your mind and think on that which is worthy, pure, uplifting and brings joy. If you’ve seen and learned good things from me and others, add them to the tack you saddle the horse with as you ride through life. (My words).

Take time to look without blinking at the “light” around you and think about what’s worth it. The passing of time is maybe the fastest thing of all.