"When an old man dies, a library burns down. " That was the qoute of the day in the Opelika-Auburn News the day after my Daddy went to Heaven. And boy, did his library of stories, sayings, and years of wisdom burn down..... except those few I remembered through hours and hours of listening.
It would take a novel and numerous days for me to recount all the stories and sayings..... all from a man who grew up on a farm and who barely had a 8th grade education. What my old man lacked in book learning, he more than made up for it, in the way he lived his life and treated others.
Daddy was not one who believed in blaming others for your troubles and circumstances. One of his sayings was, "You can sit a gallon of whiskey on the table. It won't bother you if you don't bother it." In other words, don't blame Jim Beam, blame yourself.
Another of his sayings, which probably influenced me the most was, "God helps those, who helps themselves." It tooks me years to understand the true meaning of those six words. Not until several months after I went through a divorce. To simply put it, I was in terrible rut that I just could not get out of. I remember thinking that if I could make it through this, I could make it through ANYTHING!
I prayed one minute and would cuss the next. Then one morning, I believe God placed a dream in my sleep. I dreamed that my Dad, who was in Heaven, grabbed me by my shirt collar and started shaking me, saying loudly, "GET UP, I SAID GET UP! YOU HAVE GOT TO GET UP OR YOU WILL DIE!" Immediately, I sat up in bed, sweating looking for Daddy. It was the most real life dream I ever experienced.
That dream was, I think... God's and my Dad's way to inspire me to move on. I think the power of family and friend's prayers for God to help me was working. Only one thing more was necessary for God to truely help..... and that was for me to help myself. God got my attention, now it was MY turn to do only what I AND I ALONE could only do and that was to help myself.
......And help myself I did. Got a great job, started attending church where.... where I met my best friend Rhiannon and the rest is history. God helps those, who helps themselves. God will help you learn to ride a bicycle, if first you climb on one and try. God will help you become a great leader, if only you first learn to follow simple rules. God will help you pay your bills, but you must first put in an honest days work.
God will give you a family, but you must first learn to love. God will place you into positions of authority, but first you must learn to obey authority. God will help you become successful, but you must first make the necessary sacrifices to become successful.
God helps those, who helps themselves..... and thats the way I see it and the way my old man saw it.
