During Christmas vacation I had a chance to go through some old boxes of papers from my mother's, Scottish, side of the family. Some of those papers had to do with my grandparents who were interned during World War II in Japanese concentration camps in the country of Borneo (more specifically, the Batu Lintang Camp in the present city of Kuching). My grandparents, Donald and Nini, were interned for 3.5 years, along with their two children, Ranald and Sheena. Finally, when the war came to an end, Nini, my grandma, was able to go visit her favorite sister who was living in Scotland. She had waited through the war to see her, and now that the war was over, she could go and visit her. On the way, home my grandma received a tragic letter that, sadly, her sister, Isabel, had just passed away. Isabel was just 42 at the time. It was these papers from Isabel that I read for the first time this Christmas.
My grandma and grandpa's wedding picture, from before the war, is included above. Nini (my grandma's) sister Isabel, is shown in the background, second from the left.
One line that instantly jumped out at me from one of Isabel's last letters to her sister (my grandma) were:
Grow Old With Me...The Best Is Yet To Be
When I read that line, it brought a tear to my eye. It's such a beautiful and poetic line about life, and the perseverance through it, and that sadly, this was not the case for Isabel, who died too young.
Grow Old With Me....The Best Is Yet To Be
It's a positive affirmation that time marches on, life moves forward, we all grow older, and yet, the best things in life often await us in older age.
Grow Old With Me...The Best Is Yet To Be
It's an affirmation that the best things in life lay before us and not behind us. Often we feel that the best things in our lives are in the past. People who think this way are often prone to deep periods of regret or remorse or grief. People who believe that the best things are yet to come are often more hopeful, more joyful, more contented. Though things may not be perfect in the present, The Best Is Yet To Be.
The apostle Paul put the same sentiment in a slightly different way; "Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you, will carry it through to completion until the day of Christ Jesus" (Phil. 1:6). What Paul is saying here is that God will make sure that the best things in our lives not only continue to happen in this life, but will happen in the life to come.
It was this assurance, too, that helped my grandma, Nini, cope with the notion that her favorite sister had died.
Grow Old With Me...The Best Is Yet To Be!
All For Now,
GB
