My family can attest to the fact that I am rarely involved in a conversation where I don't ask a question, and usually multiple questions. Curiosity is a part of my nature. I want to know more. I want to know why. I want to know how. Lately, though, I realize I missed some golden opportunities.
For example, last month, August 18, 2020 to be exact, the United States and particularly women in the U.S. recognized the 100th anniversary of the ratifying of the 19th Amendment giving women the right to vote. I made photographs of the striking mural painted in downtown Huntsville.
Then, the dates started to click in my head. Women had only been voting for 30 years when I was born and for only 10 years when my mother was born. My maternal grandmother, Queenie Rose, was 10 when women won the right to vote, and my paternal grandmother, Gladys Collier, was 17. My maternal great-grandmother was 30 before women could vote. I had those women in my life for a number of years after I became an adult, and it never occurred to me to ask them about that event. Did any of them participate in suffrage protests? Did they sign any petitions? Did the news (no doubt reported by men who were mostly on the radio) cover the efforts? When did they vote for the first time? Who did they vote for and why?
On a less controversial level, why didn't I watch my Grandmother Collier make a chess pie? Hers were legendary. Why didn't I watch my Grandmother Rose make her unique Thanksgiving dressing? How did my Grandmother Griggs manage to prepare a huge table full of dishes by herself then keep the leftovers covered on the table (without putting them in the refrigerator or later using a microwave), so that we could dig in again at suppertime?
What were their love stories? What were their early days of marriage like?
But, even more importantly, why didn't I ask them to tell me the stories of how and when they got saved?
I have wonderful memories of all of them, but I wish I had known them better and asked more questions. Where was my curiosity in those days?
As more and more of my friends and relatives leave this earth to go to heaven, my mind is filled with questions of what is going on with them now. I chuckle a little when I think about my daddy who had the good fortune to be married to two beautiful women, one for 37 years, and the other for almost 29 years. The women had such distinctly different personalities. What are the three of them doing and saying now?
I believe most of us have questions we'd love to ask God.
The Tennessee Baptist Mission Board produced this one-minute video asking people on the street what one question they wish they could ask God. https://vimeo.com/192157825 Some of these questions surprise me. Others are ones I wonder about myself.
Questions aren't bad. Jesus Himself asked 307 of them.
I believe a lot of questions we have today will be unnecessary once we get to heaven and open our eyes, but in the meantime, there are a couple of important questions we need to get settled for ourselves before we draw our last breath.
Who do I believe Jesus is?
What difference does knowing Jesus make in my life?
Matthew 16:13-17 -- "Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He was asking His disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; but still others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven."