While looking for something in my office which I never found (of course), I did find a cassette tape that was in the original envelope it had been sent to me. I was keenly interested in what in the world it was. As I looked closer I saw it was from Gordon Dayton, and inside the envelope was a note in Gordan’s handwriting telling me how much he thought of me and that the tape was the sermon he was preaching on a Sunday that I was going to be away.
Gordon has been gone a long time and I thought how amazing that after all these years this tape was showing up again. Once I saw the date on the tape and in the note and it was from 1980 I realized I was going to have the opportunity to hear Gordon’s voice from forty (40!) years ago. It was an absolutely wonderful experience listening to a voice from the past and from 40 years in the past at that. Listening to Gordon brought back many wonderful memories of him and the friendship we shared. I immediately contacted Gordon’s daughter Mary and offered to send the tape to her if she wanted to hear her dad’s voice again after all these years. Mary was delighted with the offer and I have mailed her the cassette tape. I only hope it works for her and brings her the same joy it brought me. The tone, the words, the message were vintage Gordon, no doubt about it. It was truly a joy for me to listen to Gordon’s voice again after all these years. What I would give to find such a tape from my dad or mother or grandmother or any of my family and friends long gone?
In a way we do have opportunities, many opportunities to hear the voices of those we love from out of the past no matter how many years they’ve been gone. I hear my dad’s voice in my head all the time. I hear my mother’s voice in the same way all the time. Sometimes, the messages are ones that were correcting me and calling me out or have negative emotions but most of the time they are good memories of being challenged, loved, corrected, happily bringing back the love of my parents and closest friends and family members that once shared the physical journey with me but now share the spiritual and emotional journey. Even though they are long gone they are still with me.
It’s actually kind of scary for me to think my words and my voice will be in my children’s and grandchildren’s heads long after I am gone. The thought of it challenges me to watch my words much more closely, and to leave good memories that will echo in their heads far into the future when I will no longer be here.
The message is “take the time and effort to leave joyful, helpful words as they will be remembered far into the future”.