Rousing Rambling

  2 years ago Mariano J R Pimentel N o v e m b e r   7 ,   2 0 1 8    ·  Shared with Your friends When we were younger, the greatest gift that our parents gave to us was the gift of presence. Some of my favorite childhood memories include waterfront picnics with the Garcia families and Sundays at my grandmother’s house with the Pimentel Brum families. Simplicity. Just being with one another was enough to bring us all joy. Simply reflecting on those days still brings me joy today. Later in life, the same is true for what we can give to our aging parents. Monday nights are my “date nights with Papa.” Honestly, sometimes, after a long day at work, the 30-minute drive feels like a chore. Sitting with my dad and really listening to his stories (not just the hearing that I did for years) has given me so much insight into the times and events that shaped the person that my father is today. Learning about his childhood, leaving his country, starting a new l...

Ecclesiastes 7:2 tells us that, "it is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting: for that is the end of all men; and the living will lay it to his heart."  On this day after Thanksgiving, this passage speaks to my heart so profoundly.  Thanksgiving day is perhaps my favorite holiday, one that is about being grateful and being with those we love.  As always, this year I again enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving day.  There was an overabundance of food and drink, laughs, stories, sports, and family.  We ate in ways that we do not normally eat...and then continued to eat after we overate.  The wine jugs were refilled often.  No matter how many times we repeated, "I ate too much" we continued to eat some more.  Thankfully, intertwined in the moments of feasting, we paused to thank our God for all of His goodness to us.  Prior to our overeating, we stopped to give thanks, and to pray for t...