56, Willie and Me
William Shakespeare and I share many things in common. He wrote plays and I write play on words (see Bad Sheep). Our hair style is oddly similar considering we never met. His nickname is the Bard and I live very close to Bard College (you're getting Goosebumps, I can tell). He wrote the play Hamlet (my favorite) and my last name is CookingHAM...it's like we were separated at birth...which we were...by hundreds of years.
Oh, one last thing...we share the same birthday...today. Which leads me to my next point.
The number 56 is interesting...56 is...
- The number of men who signed the United States Declaration of Independence in 1776.
- The number of curls in Shirley Temple hair as a child. Curls were set by her mother who thus made sure of the exact number.
- The number of times the word "Yeah" is used by Michael Stipe from the band R.E.M. in the song "Man on the Moon".
- The atomic number of barium.
- The number of days for a plucked eyebrow hair to regenerate. ( I know this because of a makeup malfunction when I acted in my son's movie years ago...you'll have to ask my wife...but my eyebrows are gone)
56 is also the numbers of years that God have blessed me with on this planet. I wish all of them were ones that were wholly spent on Him but I have seen His hand in them all.
It's a big number, 56, and yet I still feel small. Not in a bad mind you, but compared to the huge plan for my life, the purpose, the cost of my Savior's blood...yeah, I feel small.
I am grateful for all 56, even the difficult ones, for they tell a powerful story. They sing a song of redemption, they recite poetry from a warrior's heart, they cry out with shouts of victory and they retell sad stories of pain and sorrow. All of which speak of life...abundant life...life the Master promised (and still offers) to give when we follow Him.
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Jeremiah 29:11
What about you…what does your story say today?
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