I always had hope! I thought about that this morning. After I'd did my bi-daily 5k run, I was cooling down by a 3k walk. Near the school on the highway I spied a shiny object. Shiny things always attract me. They steal my attention!
I bent down and picked up a shiny new nickel. It was then that my mind finished the race which my body had already started. That nickel brought back memories! As I carried the nickel in my hand all the way home, I reminisced on years gone by.
As a child my family was poor. We had plenty of garden vegetables to eat, but we worked hard to raise the garden and for mom to cold-pack them. Whereas today kids scurry to open a piece of candy, we were excited when the pickled beets made it to the table.
We lived in rural Hazelwood, Indiana. Once a month we either went to Hazelwood Grocery or The Handy Corner in rural Stilesville, Indiana. Both of these stores had no more than a few essentials, but the one thing that I remember most is the Coca-Cola Chest where a nickel was put in the slot, and after moving the seven-ounce bottle through a maze, the bottle of ice cold Coca-Cola could be extracted. But for me, it was the Mason's Root Beer which I craved. I don't know for sure if it was the taste of that delicious root beer or the brown bottle! It being the coldest drink in town (and the only one) added to the desirability.
I thrilled at that Mason Root Beer once a month and always looked forward to grocery shopping.
Still we were quite poor because of seven kids, but we never knew that we were poor until much later. We moved to the big city of Coatesville, Indiana, population then and now, about 600. We lived on the outskirts of town and it was a half mile to the caution light in the center of town and another half miles to my grade school. Nearly everyone in town walked to school at that time, regardless of age.
I remember on a hot summer day my sister Judy said "I'll buy you a Pepsi" (Root beer was then only a memory) if you run to town and get them. She gave me a dime, I ran there, put a bottle in each pocket and then ran toward home. About half-way back one bottle flew out of my pocket and broke on the sidewalk. When I got home, nearly in tears, I still had some hope! I told Judy "I broke yours!" She said "No, you broke yours!". My hope diminished and I nearly cried as Judy drank her Pepsi.
Some neighbors down the street had a 24-bottle case of seven-ounce cokes in their garage. I told mom that the Biehls were rich. She said, "How do you know that?" I replied, "Because they have a whole case of cokes!" That was beyond belief to a child who only got one each month!
The days of summer were long and hot for barefoot boys in cutoffs (before they were in vogue) and no shirt. In the hot of the day I wished I had relief. Warm well water just wouldn't cut it. I had to have "pop"; what Hoosiers called soda, although most often, any soft drink was called "Coke".
I thought this thought: "Maybe if I walk toward town I'll find a nickel on the way!" That is "positive thinking", but to think that way, requires hope! Poor kids had nothing much worth having, but hope!
Digressing a bit, I recently wondered where my closet was in that packed home. It occurred to me that I did not have a closet and didn't need one because I didn't have extra clothes to put in the closet. You see, if you don't have things, other things are not needed! I never dreamed that I'd have a closet, let alone clothes to put in the closet. Happiness was just being. Having wasn't even a hope except for a few obtainable things!
A bottle of pop was attainable! If I hoped hard enough I might find that nickel before I got to the Cities Service. If not then maybe by the time I got to the Standard, and at worst when I got to the furthest gas station; the Marathon by the mill. Poor people have hope. Those bound to drudgery have hope. Hope is what allows the down-trodden to exist!
I was raised in a solid Christian home. We praised God for what we had and prayed for what we needed. God supplied the essentials. God supplied that monthly bottle of Mason's Root Beer! Praying for the blessings of God is hope. If our faith is strong enough then our hope will certainly be met! Even as a child the thing for which I hoped the most was what mattered the most! I didn't know that I was poor in life, but I didn't want to be poor in spirit. While things were bad here, and I remember constant toothaches, in heaven, Mom told me, all will be better! That was my hope! I lived looking toward the rewards only to be found in death!
Matthew 11:28 "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."My hope was simple: no more toothaches, no more sickness, no more hunger and no more sorrow. In heaven the burdens of this world would be gone. Mom told me so! She's sing "This world is not my home. I'm just a passing through!" That meant things to me! My hope was not in life, but in death.
I walked slowly toward town. My eyes glanced right and left searching for a nickel which I just knew was there. I had no doubt one was, but I just didn't want to overlook it. I was careful and believed that one would be found. Was it to be the first half mile before the Cities Service or the last mile near the Marathon? I just had faith that it would be the first half mile so I wouldn't be discouraged!
I saw it. A tarnished old nickel. My hope had become reality. Now I didn't wish I had a coke, but knew that I was going to get one and I looked forward to it! Because that hope came true many hopes thereafter did too! I had faith, not only in finding that nickel, but hope in security and happiness in this life, and eternal hope in life after death.
I found a shiny nickel today! It reminded me of that tarnished nickel sixty years ago. It's ironic that a child in poverty found a tarnished nickel, but a grown man who had been blessed by God throughout life, found a shiny nickel. I dared not pass it up, not having enough value to stoop over, but I thought: "It won't buy a coke, but it'll buy memories of that hope!" I carried that nickel home which has little intrinsic value, but still is filled with hope!
Since I found that tarnished nickel, my hope has been met many times! I hoped that I could have a family. I hoped that I could support that family better than I had it, I hoped that I could get an education. I hoped that I could have a church family. I hoped that I would be healthy. I hoped that I would have a long life, and I hoped for and still hope for eternal life! God granted me all my desires in life. Why would he not grant me my hope in death?
1 Thessalonians 5:8 "But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation."In my childhood my closet was not only empty. It wasn't there! Now I have a closet full of clothes and among them are protective armor. My favorite is my helmet! I have the "helmet, the hope of salvation." That shiny new nickel this morning reminded me of the many times I had hope and God fulfilled my hope! The tarnished old nickel was one of the first signs of hope that I remember!
It's a great gift that God brings to our minds fond memories even when we were heavy laden. It's ironic that a nickel which is worth so little today has so much value in kindling memories. I was joyous in my poverty and I'm ecstatic in my hope for tomorrow. That's God's grace! That's what makes life worth the living!
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