Life surprises in unexpected ways and brings people into our lives we may never have met if it were not for a change
in circumstances. After ten years of living in Washington, D.C. my husband and I recently relocated to
Chattanooga, Tennessee and rented a little bungalow while searching for a new home. On a walk with my little dog one morning,
I turned the corner by my house where a neighbor’s yard had a little image of the Tin Man from the Wizard of Oz
hanging up on a wire behind a low fence. Up on the porch was a very elderly man with a straw hat sitting in a rocking chair.
“I love the Tin Man!” I said enthusiastically,” to which the ’ole’ man smiled back
with a big grin, stood up straight and tall, and carefully walked down a ramp to his slightly rusty fence.
Even though I am a Christian woman now in my early 70’s, in getting to know this 99 year old man,
I was about to learn a valuable lesson from a precious soul who was turning out not just to be neighbor,
but become an inspiration and dear friend.
Despite his advanced years his mind is sharp as a tack, and although he has lost some of his sight he
still pays his own bills, balances his check book and cooks and takes care of himself. The seventh child of eighteen siblings,
he still lives in the same house he and his recently deceased wife lived in for half his life. But even greater than his age,
is the wise depth of his presence.
On a recent morning while walking the dog, I eagerly looked forward to visiting with my friend, but little did I
know that I was to be given a special kiss from God and learn an important lesson out of the blue that
the Lord knew I needed to hear.
“In my younger years I used to have a whole lot of anger and held unforgiveness toward people,
but God took all that anger out of me, ” he said in a halting but deliberate way while pausing for a minute
in quiet reflectiveness, “But now nothin’ ever bothers me no more…no matter what it is.”
He must have seen the wondering look on my face because he continued and said, “I guess ‘cause I was tired of it,
so I asked God to take it out of me.”
Here is a man who has lived life on the cusp of a century, but transformed by his willingness to allow God to soften
his heart and to calm his reactions and attitudes toward others and forgive and let go. Like Mr. Harvey, anger has also
been an issue in my life and it’s something I also desire to control and rid myself of, so seeing this type of grace
fall on Mr. Harvey transformed by the grace of God was an amazing inspiration to me. In that one moment, his words opened
my eyes and a new seed of forgiveness and letting go was planted in my heart.
Like the beautiful Bartlett Pear Tree in his front yard - it’s roots growing deep down into the ground that he
planted years ago - it makes me think of how rooted Mr. Harvey is in the character of Christ. Oh for all of us to have
such deep forgiving roots.
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