Dr. James Snyder
This week, The Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage and I went shopping. Normally, I don’t go shopping, at least not with her. However, this was a special occasion, and so I tagged along.
I’m not quite sure what she was shopping for, and after 55 years of marital bliss, I don’t ask. I have found that if I ask, she’ll respond, which is more than I want.
We were in the store for just a few moments, and she had to go down an aisle to get some stuff, so I went the other way. If I tagged along with her, she would say repeatedly, “What do you think of this? You think I should get this?”
Telling her what she needs is so far above my pay grade that I’ll never reach it. I have learned to let her make her own decisions, which makes our home a happy place. I like my happy place.
I was going down several aisles when I saw something I hadn’t seen in a long time. There, in a glass case, was a large collection of smoking pipes. Looking at them, one flashed my grandfather’s face back. I was stunned. Nothing like this had ever happened to me before.
Looking at that one pipe, I realized it was exactly the kind my grandfather had. Since my grandfather died over 50 years ago, I was surprised I remembered what his pipe looked like.
I looked at it and came very close to purchasing it in memory of my grandfather. I’m sure he would’ve enjoyed that. I don’t smoke, and I had no plans to smoke that pipe; I was just looking at it and being reminded of my grandfather. He never went anywhere without that pipe. I’m not sure what that pipe meant to him, but he was really attached to it. Sometimes he had it when he wasn’t even smoking.
Many times, I spent an afternoon with my grandfather; as we were chatting, he puffed on his pipe. I never could understand why he did that, but I watched him, and that picture stayed clear in my mind. I never expected to have this kind of experience, and I can’t remember the last time I thought about my grandfather.
As I was enjoying my view, The Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage came up and said, “You’re not thinking what I think you’re thinking? Are you?”
After all these years of marital bliss, I still can’t figure out the latest question she throws my way.
I turned around, looked at her, and said, “What do you think I’m thinking?”
She just stared at me, and finally I said, “See that pipe right there? That is the exact pipe that my grandfather had when I was a young boy.”
She looked at it, smiled very gingerly, and said, “Are you thinking of buying it?”
I looked at her for a moment, then looked back at the pipe and thought for a long time.
“Well, I gave that a little bit of thought because it would be a great reminder to me of my grandfather. That pipe defined him in many regards.”
“Where would you like to hang it at the house?” she asked.
Chuckling a little, I looked back at her and said, “I said I gave it a little bit of thought, but as much as I would like to, I am not going to buy a pipe and take it home.”
As we were going home in the Sissy Van, The Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage said, “What is it about that pipe that reminded you so much of your grandfather?”
That’s the kind of question you can’t answer in a few words. Thinking along those lines, for the first time in many years, I thought about my grandfather and all the good times we had together; he was a Class A prankster in many ways. If anybody could prank you, it was my grandfather.
One prank I remember was when our pastor came to visit him, and when he left, he forgot his hat. That was my grandfather’s cue to prank the pastor.
My grandfather took the pastor’s hat to a friend who owned a men’s clothing store. He had that friend stretch the hat almost twice its original size.
The next Sunday my grandfather came to church and brought the pastor’s hat with him. After the service, he went up to the pastor with the hat and said, “Pastor, you left your hat at my place this past week. I thought I’d bring it to you today.”
The pastor was happy because he couldn’t remember where he left his hat. He took it from my grandfather, put it on his head, and it slid down to his chin. Very slowly, the pastor took his hat off, looked at my grandfather, and tried to smile.
That’s just the beginning of the pranks I remember my grandfather playing.
That event brought a Bible verse to mind.
“But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you” (John 14:26).
I often get frustrated when I forget something. As a Christian, I can rely on the Holy Spirit to bring to my mind what I need to know and when I need to know it.
