Thoughtful Thursday 


The Twinkling of an Eye

I am the youngest of seven children…the baby. The B-A-A-A-B-Y!!! This came with all the liberties, dividends, and privileges afforded to the baby of the family. For example, if there was a left-over cookie, my daddy would say, “Give it to the baby.” When my mom made homemade biscuits, she always had just a little dough left, and she would make a “baby biscuit,” just for me. Sometimes, if my brother and I were arguing, I would start to cry, and my daddy would look at him sharply, and say, “You leave that baby alone!” 

I promise that I have long since outgrown this feeling of entitlement. However, I will share one more memory that took place before my enlightenment. I was probably about five or six years old.

Every now and then, we would venture out of the holler in our big Oldsmobile, on a trip that was long enough that we didn’t return home until after dark. Perhaps we were coming home from church, or we had visited my cousins, and stayed later than we had planned. Most of the time, my brother, Richard, and my sister, Faye, rode in the back seat. I got to ride up front, between Mommy and Daddy, on the bench seat, because…well…because I was the baby. We didn’t have seatbelts then. Sometimes, I would get on my knees, facing the back seat, and make faces at the less fortunate back-seat dwellers. Then I’d get swatted, and had to turn around and sit down. Sitting still was pretty boring, so I often fell asleep before we got home. 

I remember a few times when we would arrive home, my brother and sister would get out of the car first, and I would be half asleep, and half awake. My mom would try to convince me to wake up and walk into the house. I could hear her, but I knew that if I pretended to be asleep, my daddy would carry me in. Sure enough, after several attempts to roust me, to no avail, my daddy would scoop me up, and carry me in. Then, there were other times that I really was out like a light. It seemed like one minute, I was riding in the car, then…POOF! The next minute, I was in the house. It seemed like just  a moment…like the twinkling of an eye.

I thought of this during my Bible study this week.  I was reading from 
1 Corinthians Chapter 15. When I got to verse 51, I noticed the words, “twinkling of an eye.”  I thought this phrase was very lyrical. It just rolls off the tongue. Together, verses 51 and 52 say:

“Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed - in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.” (1Corinthians 15:51-52)

Wow! We will be changed! No more worries, no more cares, no sadness, no aches and pains…just POOF!… we will be home. 

Anyway, that’s how I see it.  But what do I know? I’m just the baby.

Have a great Thursday!