I've been looking over my Great Grandfather, Chris' diaries. It's going to take a little time because there are 783 pages! My Grandpa, Thorvald, translated them from Danish into English. The entries cover a period from 1911 to 1970. Many of the entries are only a sentence or two and generally include what the weather was like, where he went for the day, chores accomplished, or tiling jobs that he was working on (trenching and tiling fields). If you dig you can find all sorts of little tidbits. For instance, the price of gas on Sunday, August 26th, 1917 was 21 cents per gallon; on Monday, November 3rd, 1958 the price of a hog was $18.
As I kept reading through the entries I found myself wanting to learn more about Great Grandpa Chris. I wanted to see if I could see traces of myself in him; similar interests, shared events, etc. I noted that Grandpa Chris was a hard worker, took plenty of time to be social, and seemed to be "very matter of fact".
At first thought 783 pages (59 years) of journal entries seems like a lot but as I thought about it, that's just a drop in the bucket compared to eternity. I was reminded of this passage of scripture from Psalm 103:15-17, "As for man, his days are like grass, he flourishes like a flower of the field; the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more. But from everlasting to everlasting the LORD's love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children's children"
Reading through Great Grandpa's journals reminds me that I need to be living each day to its fullest potential. My desire is to spend my days loving God with all of my heart and pointing others to Him. I believe there is no better way to live my short life.
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