Nostalgia and The New Year

Another story about Debbie Reynolds:

My Grandma (Margie Brown) used to own a little sore at the entrance to the Black Canyon, way back in the day. She creatively called it “The Black Canyon Curio Shop.” It was mainly a gift shop, but she may have also sold snacks and such. At one point, she got ahold of a quilt that was used in The Unsinkable Molly Brown movie, starring Debbie Reynolds. So she displayed it in the store and waited to see whether it would merely be eye candy or much needed income.

From what I read, it’s a bit of a mystery as to whether Debbie Reynolds ever had a permanent residence in or near Montrose, but the fact is, she came to the western slop of Colorado often. On one such visit, she entered Grandma’s shop, recognized the quilt that was used in the Molly Brown movie, and bought it.

Margie Brown’s life was full of these types of stories. At some point in her 80-some years, her eight younger brothers and sisters began referring to her as “The Unsinkable Margie Brown” because she was a fearless, tough, hard working, red-headed fireball who seemed … well, unsinkable. But as I noted in my last blog, death does not pass over any of us. And Margie Brown was in fact sinkable, although I give her much credit for not going down without a fight. And by fight, I mean the fight that often comes with a myriad of health issues that cause you to duke it out with death as long as possible, as if there is so much heaven on earth worth living for. But also the type of physical fight where you duke it out with the cops for attempting to escort you from your house to a nursing home.

Really. She had the spunk of a skunk plus more.

So this story, as it’s turning out, isn’t actually about Debbie Reynolds so much as it is about Margie Brown. At the news of Miss Reynolds’ passing, I flipped through some google images of her, and in that flipping, I realized that Debbie and Margie looked similar. Debbie aged better on the outside, because Debbie had enough money to age better. And as for character, well … I am not privy to Debbie’s character. I just know that, on the surface, they were, in the eye of this beholder, similar — maybe due too style more than features. But where their fate was concerned, they were the same: sinkable.

We are all in that boat. We will all sink one day, and it would behoove us to examine what exactly happens to a soul once separated from a body that will be lowered and sealed in a box for fear of a coyote feast (a word picture I borrowed from a Hollywood scene). There are some Hollywood Christians, but sometimes I wonder whether the majority of them ever come around to cherish the Gospel truth once they are cruelly removed from the limelight due to age and deterioration. What do they live for once gravity defies body goals and stardom dwindles?

Dolly Parton must be 70-something by now, but her body looks younger and sexier than my own at forty-four. Also faker, but that point is, Dolly, in spite of her youthful appearance, isn’t unsinkable. In the next few decades or so, maybe less, she will be the subject of a mournful Hollywood headline. And so, when I think of Debbie and Dolly and Margie, I see outward beauty in all. But what I cherish is the inward Margie, for I knew her, and when she turned not so attractive on the outside, I still cherished her because of what she was to me for thirty-some years: kind, funny, crazy, supportive, hard-working, generous, hospitable, little, fierce, and seemingly unsinkable.

Harsh reality is that for now, her body rests six feet under, stuck in the process of returning to dust. But one day, she will rise. And if the Lord tarries and I succumb to death, I will rise with her when He calls our names.

Grandma’s siblings had it half right. They implied her unsinkable-ness was due to her own strength. It was not. One day, she will be unsinkable, but only because of Christ’s strength. Death will be conquered. She will have a beautiful new body reunited with her perfected soul. I don’t know how, but I will recognize her and vice versa and all this talk of death and earthly beauty will be over. We will see nothing but Christ and life and perfect heavenly beauty everywhere and we will wonder why we ever fought so hard to resist earthly eviction.

What is all this waxing nostalgic about? Just to point out that as the New Year begins, and we frantically scribble our resolutions on a restaurant napkin after a too full meal, we need to take into account that many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand (Prov. 19:21). And charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised (Prov. 31:30). So let your adorning be the hidden person of the hearth with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quite spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious (I Peter 3:4).

I wonder how those verses might humble us, change our view of what we think makes a person pretty cool, and shape our 2017 goals.

Happy New Year, readers. And blessings to you and yours as you begin anew!