What Goes Without Saying...

One of the lasting impacts of living in Santa Margarita was a new appreciation for Country Music. Our whole family became Paul Overstreet fans. One of his songs is What Goes Without Saying Should be Said.

"He stood looking at his father who was eighty-five years old
He remembered all the ball games they played so long ago
Then he put his arm around him and kissed him on the cheek
He say dad it's time I told you what a friend you've been to me.

'Cause when you love someone you gotta let 'em know
When you're thinking of someone you need to tell 'em so
Don't know what makes us think our minds and our hearts can be read
What's going without saying should be said.

She stood in the kitchen doorway all grown up with children too
Watching as her mama cooked just like she used to do
She slowly walked up to her and she held her wrinkled hands
She said do you know you are the greatest mom a daughter ever had.

No one needs our roses when the sun of life's gone down
If you're gonna send a message of your love then send it now.

Oh, I don't believe I've let you hear the things you should have heard
I don't believe I've truly put my feelings into words
'Cause to me you are so beautiful much more than words can say
And if you don't mind and you've got the time I'd like to try today."

In one of my favorite, quirky movies, "Waking Ned Devine," Jackie O'Shea pretends to be Ned who died upon learning that he had won the lottery. When the lottery officials arrive in town, the eulogy for Ned quickly turns into a eulogy for Jackie so that the officials will assume that Jackie is Ned. (Rent the movie, it'll become clearer.) Anyway, on the spur of the moment to the surprise of his fellow villagers, Jackie is attending his own wake. In those moments he hears from his friends what he has meant to them.

This past Saturday I was blessed to be at a similar occasion. Several former students of the now deceased Voyager's Christian School pulled together a reunion of what the school's only principal described as a "home school group that got out of hand." The students who were there on Saturday spent a significant time recounting [in the presence of Thenell and Gary Hanggi who served as principal, teacher, surrogate parents, mentors, sports coach, driver's education instructors, and all the other hats they wore throughout the life of the school] the life-transforming impact they had on the students. One by one these adults were able to articulate what a difference these two people had made in their lives. (One of the students calculated that Gary and Thenell were about the age the students are now when they began the school. That was sobering.)

Rather than waiting until some point down the road when or more of the Hanggi's were dead or dying, they set aside time to tell them now how God had used them to impact their lives for good. Is there someone in your life that needs to know how much they imprinted your life? What goes without saying should be said.