In today's poem, Pastor Frank muses about birthdays and how we must adjust over time. Eva (Jantz) Nickel, pictured here upon her college graduation, was born on this day in 1915. We honor her birthday today and the way she learned to adjust over a lifetime of faithful service as wife to Frank and mother of eight children. She graduated to glory on May 12, 1996.
I’m about to have another birthday,
friend of mine—
the proof of growing older
and it’s not the only sign.
No use trying to kid myself
and say it isn’t so;
the evidence is all too clear,
the indications show.
“Happy birthday!” folks will say;
but nothing much has changed
since youthful days, so long ago,
it’s just been rearranged.
“When you are older,” they’d explain,
“Then you’ll do as you please.”
So birthdays came too slow for me;
I wished for more of these.
That time has surely come and gone,
somehow I can’t recall
when I could do just as I pleased;
was such a time at all?
For I’ve been told time and again,
“Adjust! Adjust! Adjust!”
And more so now—it’s getting worse,
as I begin to rust.
Well, there’s no use complaining,
or wishing back those years;
I’ve tried to make the most of life
through joys and through my tears.
I’ve had a lot of practice at
adjusting in the past;
with that experience, I’ll keep on
adjusting while I last!
fpn/1985
Picture: from the family archives
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