Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

Record my misery;
    list my tears on your scroll—
    are they not in your record?

• Psalm 56:8

He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

• Matthew 18:2-4

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

“If you carry your childhood with you, you never become older.”

• Tom Stoppard

The Discussion

This is another quote that is often attributed to the wrong person.  Some think it should be Yiddish poet Abraham Sutzkever.

I think that British playwright Tom Stoppard must have had a good childhood.  But I think he meant that things were much easier as a child.  Mother and Father took the slings and arrows of life, and as long as you had a good meal and a teddy bear, you were happy with life.

Too many people grow up long before they are a grownup.  My wife’s first impression of me was that I was a lot older than I looked.  She thought I was years older than her.  But I was a year and a half younger.

I had grown up too soon.  The hard knocks of life had knocked me down often, but then again, I was naïve to the outside world – world outside the small community where I grew up.

But I cannot tell you how many times that I have just wanted to do my homework, watch some television, and go to bed.

That inner child keeps calling these days.  In my exhaustion, I take naps – something I never did after about one year of age.

I still want everything to be black and white, easily understood, but the world insists that there is nothing but gray.  I think God will sort it out and we’ll find the world is still mostly black and white with 100% deception saying otherwise, but maybe that’s just me.

Jesus said that we need to have a heart like a little child, but we should never be childish.  We have to live in this world after all.

And we have to grow up.  But that does not mean that we give up that inner child.

Laugh a little.  Cry a little.  And think of something silly to do.  You might avoid doing it, but it’s the thought that counts.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory