March 10, 2000

Thank You Notes to God, by Bill Teysko

About the time I became an adult, sometime in my fifties, I ceased being a skeptic. I began to see the glass being half-empty or half-full as an entirely different issue; that of the glass being twice as big as it needed to be. Followed by the thought how wonderful that God had provided us with the means to "invent" glass. I wonder if the invention was a lightning strike in a sand pit.

I have finally subsided in being impressed with how clever and witty I am. After all these years I have a handle on my level of brilliance (modest). I can focus more now on what’s out there… form for instance, how charming a child’s smile is, and how charming the smile of a mother when you mention how beautiful is her child.

One of the most beautiful writings I know of is by Paul of Tarsus, recorded as part of a letter to friends in Corinth, that is,1st Corinthians 13.
    "If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.
   If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
   If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.
   Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
   It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
   Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
   It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
   Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.
   For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears.
    When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.
   Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
   And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love."