About Dr. Arvil Jones & Carolyn

To My Family
from Dad
“The Seasons of My Life” 

Not every man in this old world is nearly as blessed as I,
And if you should ask how I make such a claim;
Well, I’ll tell you the reason why,
But before I can tell you why I’m so blessed;
I’ll have to go back a few years,
For before I became so richly blessed;
There were many heartaches and tears,
And for every heartache, and for every tear,
There is no one to blame but me;
And I often wonder why it takes so long,
For some men to finally see;
That the place in which we now find ourselves,
Is determined by the roads that we take;
And happiness, or the loss thereof, is by the choices we make,
And as I sit here now, writing these words
Reflecting on the years that have passed,
I ask myself as each season goes by; “will this season be my last?”
I recall the days when I was so young, and it seemed life would never end,
And it really didn’t matter at all, what waited around the next bend;
I never dreamed there might come a day, when life would come to a close;
But the Spring was all too quickly gone, like the fading of a beautiful Rose;
And the Spring was soon forgotten, as the warm Summer took it’s place;
And I realized that time was passing at an awfully rapid pace,
And before I could enjoy it all, the Summer was nearly gone;
And all the things I had planned to do had mostly gone undone,
And the few little things that I did accomplish, now seemed so very small;
And it seemed that in the blink of an eye, Summer gave way to Fall,
And Fall has a way of reminding the soul, “You have only one season more”;
Whatever you’re going to do, do it now,
Before Winter closes the door;
And now the cold blast of Winter has come, and I cannot turn it back,
And I feel the pain of it’s chilling wind, as it howls at my crumbling shack;
But through it all, the snow and the cold, the wind and freezing rain,
My heart still gazes upward, and I dare not to complain;
For though the harsh storm lingers long, and I feel it’s bitter sting,
I hear a sweet voice from Heaven say; “I’ll give you another Spring”;

Another Spring? My heart replied – another Season of joy?
To romp and play among the hills as when I was a boy?
Oh No, the still small voice replied, You’ll play on Earth no more,
You have far greater things to do, and better things in store;
I’ve granted you this precious time to go and make amends,
To spend more time, and share more love with family and friends;
To say the things you should have said, and to do what you left undone,
So use this Season wisely my child, for it will soon be gone;
And then a soft serenity came over my soul at last,
As I reflected once again on the Seasons that have passed;
And one by one I began to count the blessings I have known,
With all the tender mercies, and love that God has shown;
He gave me a loving family to cherish and adore,
And as I think of them each day, I can ask for nothing more;
So let us cherish every day, to laugh, to love, and sing,
‘Til the Father finally calls us Home, to the Land of Eternal Spring.

2011 Arvil Jones

The Mother of My Children

I met her first when we were children

But didn’t even get her name

A little blonde-haired country girl

With blue eyes and a skinny frame

Then some years passed and we both grew

To that tender age of fifteen

And now she was the most beautiful girl