Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

But Timothy has just now come to us from you and has brought good news about your faith and love. He has told us that you always have pleasant memories of us and that you long to see us, just as we also long to see you.

• 1 Thessalonians 3:6

I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy

• Philippians 1:3-4

The name of the righteous is used in blessings,
    but the name of the wicked will rot.

• Proverbs 10:7

The New Boilerplate

My wife filled a small book with “Angel” on the cover.  It was hidden with a box of crafting things.  On 18 July 2025, I thought I had posted the last of these.  But this little angel book held a prayer, followed by 71 quotes.  So, the “with a little help” series is back in business for a while.  And it will be fun for me.  She did not attribute any of the quotes.  The first quote was from James A. Garfield, the 20^th president of the USA.  The next one was disputed, with some thinking it originated with Teddy Roosevelt and others saying Fred Astaire.  After the prayer, these might be on the lighter side.

Her quote

“Cherish all your happy moments; they make a fine cushion for old age.”

• Booth Tarkington

The Discussion

Again, controversy over who said it, but the majority point to Booth Tarkington, while one or two sites misdirect the quote to Christopher Morley.

I was complimented recently about the details in a 55+ year memory.  My response was that I can remember a lot of things vividly from long ago, but I sometimes forget what I did yesterday.

And to allay anyone’s fears, I wrote a Bible study yesterday.  Go to yesterday’s posts and check it out.  But I know I did almost nothing else since it was bitter cold and I never opened the door to even check the mail – that is when I wrote the Bible study yesterday, a few weeks ago.

We can use our happy memories from our past as a cushion, but we can hardly rest there.  God has called us to action.  We are to help the poor and needy.  We are to care for the fatherless and widows.  We are to see to the needs of the foreigner in our land.

My wife was an immigrant to the USA, and she feared deportation nearly every day.  She was sweet and kind.  But her upbringing included a rule that she should never be a burden to anyone else or the government could send her back to where she came from.

Most people would reject that at adulthood.  Illegal aliens in the USA today have no thought of that at all.  My wife was a legal immigrant and she worried about it.  She lived her life as best she could to not be a burden.  Then, when her health failed, she placed her burden onto me and made me promise to say that she was not a burden.

She was not a burden.  We became husband and wife, two becoming one flesh.  And when she was gone, part of me was gone with her.  That was not a burden.  It was a privilege.

After she passed, I wrote a selection of biographical stories that had “My wife” as the first two words in the title in case you want to search for them.  Some people marveled at how much I knew about my wife.  Those “happy moments” in her life became part of our story even though they were before I knew her.  Why would you forget those moments?  I have never awakened and gone to the porch and stared at an orangutan sitting in a tree across the road, but when my wife told me the story of how that happened countless times, I can picture it in my mind.  The orangutan stared at her.  She stared at the orangutan.  It was if they were silently communicating to each other.

Maybe that is what Booth Tarkington meant.  The fine cushion is on the inside instead of a cushion to place on the outside.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory