March 24, 1999

DOWN HOME:
Who will be happiest
when we get to heaven?
___"When I get to heaven, the first thing I'm going to do is ask God, 'Who was the happiest person who ever lived?'" Molly announced.
___Obviously, she wasn't a candidate. At least not at that moment.
___Her words weren't so much a declaration of eternal intent as a statement of

MARV KNOX Editor

sibling dissatisfaction. Her older sister, Lindsay, was off doing something "fun," while she was stuck running errands with dear ol' Dad. Ugh.
___I tried to explain that nobody's happy every minute. Even the happiest people deal with disappointment, sadness and heartache.
___She wasn't buying it, so I made both of us a little happier by dropping the subject. Later, I tried to come up with the happiest moments of my life. (My salvation, graduation, wedding and the birth of our children are off the books, since those are easy answers.) Here's my list:
___ My sixth birthday with Mother, Daddy and Martha at Glorieta. I got a bow and arrows and new cowboy boots. I still can smell the leather.
___ Sitting on a makeshift dock in a stock tank with Popo, my grandfather, "feeding" perfectly good bait to perch.
___ The first time I got up on water skis and the first time I got down a mountain on snow skis.
___ Playing basketball in the driveway with my brother, Martin. I was 18, and he was 7. I spotted him 16 points and still won. No way that would happen now.
___ My sophomore year at Hardin-Simmons, when a friend named Cyndi told me this girl from Fort Worth, Joanna, wanted to go out with me.
___ Late-night bull sessions in my college dorm with guys like Marc and Bill and Dirk.
___ Two dinners at T.G.I. Friday's with David and Melanie, when Jo and I told them we were expecting our first child and they shared the same news.
___ Standing under an outdoor shower in Panama City, Fla., washing the sand off our girls the first time Jo and I went to the beach. One perfect day.
___ Every-Tuesday evening dinners in Nashville with our friend Nancy.
___ Heart-stopping Hearts games with our buddies Brent and Jackie.
___ The moments I stood in water and baptized my daughters.
___ The day Daddy successfully donated a kidney to Martha.
___ Lindsay's drill team performances and Molly's band concerts.
___ Every time I hear Handel's "Hallelujah," Pachelbel's "Canon in D," Lyle Lovett, Mary-Chapin Carpenter and James Taylor.
___I wasn't so happy when I started making my list. But these and many other happinesses reminded me of God's blessings, of the people and moments God uses to add sparkle to my life. Maybe I'll be the happiest person in heaven.
___Or maybe it'll be you. Count your blessings; you'll be happy you did.
___

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