Transformation

A number of years ago I took a course designed to transform your life.  This unique program is for people who want to get the most out of their lives.  It is for those who may desire to improve their life and remove impediments that hold them back.  Similar to many transformational programs, it is designed to help people deal with things of the past that affect the future.

I didn’t feel transformed except that the other students in the class, which had attracted a number of men and women from all walks of life, did not even resemble themselves by the last day of the program.  Therefore, I decided that I had been transformed too but I just couldn’t see it for myself. 

Since that time, I have taken many classes and I always get a rich reward from their teachings.  Oftentimes self-improvement courses don’t say or allude to being spiritual classes, but they truly are, and what you learn makes you a better person in many ways.  A lightbulb went off when I took this first course, very similar to an epiphany.  My discovery was about how grateful I was for what my parents provided for us as children.  They gave us a rich life in a world of youthful exuberance.  They were always kind and considerate people even though they had four children in five years!

My dad served in World War II. After the war, he came home to my mom, who dearly loved him.  He built his own home and never had a mortgage or a car payment in his entire life.  He had been an honor student in school.  He worked at the local telephone company and held his job for him while he was serving in Europe until he got home from the war. 

Both of my parents had pretty difficult childhoods but they didn’t focus on the past very much.  They raised us to be fun-loving, to be hardworking and conscientious, to be polite, and have family values.  They raised us to be Americans.  My mom worked very hard for our family and was an amazing artist.  She loved to cook, sew, knit and garden.  She had a special machine to smock dresses and Christmas ornaments.  Her very special art was painting and pottery. 

They were quiet people.  They taught us mostly by example.  They encouraged us but they were not much for nagging or complaining.  It was a pretty peaceful home and it was a rare gem of a childhood as I soon learned from the stories of the other people I have met along life’s journey.  We were not rich but we had a very nice life.  I took music lessons, played in the school band, and had wonderful teachers in school.  It wasn’t an easy time but it was the best time in so many ways.  Somehow the simplicity of our lives made it easy to appreciate what we had.

My mom and dad took us to church on Sunday and it made such a difference to us.  I truly don’t know where I would have been without the gift of spirituality in my life as a child. It was all a gracious start for the fabric of my life.  I have come to realize how many children are never taken to church and how many people leave the church without realizing fully what it has to offer.  

Why am I telling you this story?  Because what children are blessed with early in life means everything.  It means the most basic things in life: church, home, family activities, music and friends are the foundation that every child deserves. 

In our home, our signature favorite was Sunday dinner with my dad’s favorite roast beef and Yorkshire pudding as he was born and raised in England.

Childhood: it was a time that made us so grateful for all that we had.

Jude