Our Canadian Flag

This morning, quite by accident, I unearthed from my files an artefact from my past. Five years ago, while going through all of my parents’ effects in order to clear out their apartment, I found a document that surprised me by its very existence. Both my mother and father lived independently until the end of their lives and passed away within 34 days of each other. The task of deciding what to do with two joint lifetimes of possessions and memories fell to my sister and myself with Lozanne’s capable assistance. There before me in a small strong box designed for important papers was a hand written speech that I wrote and delivered in grade seven. It is called “Our Canadian Flag”. My mother’s souvenir evoked a memory that I had not entertained in years.

I nervously mounted the stage in the Canadian Legion Hall in front of what seemed like hundreds of listeners. Much to my chagrin, I had won the public speaking contest for grade seven and eight students in our school and had advanced to the city level. The Canadian Legion has sponsored speaking contests for decades. My five minute speech was about the then Canadian flag called the Union Jack. In rereading the text of my speech, I am appalled even now with the boring content. The contest required that the speaker stay on the stage without a lectern for four to five minutes and any reference to speaking notes would result in a loss of points. I did indeed manage to stay on the stage and recited the speech with rehearsed mannerisms completely by memory. Unaccountably in my mind, I came third in the competition and received a long lost red fountain pen. Throughout all of that difficult evening, I concentrated on the promise of going ice fishing on the following day. This morning, I am contemplating why my mother would find the fifty year old event so worth preserving, and even more so, how we change as we age.

I spent much of my career speaking in public. It became second nature, even when I was unprepared, to hold forth on varied topics. Indeed, from time to time, I still deliver forty minute messages in local assemblies. I use speaking notes to remind me where I am in the discourse. Memorizing a five minute speech would be absolutely impossible for me now. I have trouble memorizing a Bible verse. The old brain and the new brain function completely differently. You will notice that I did not characterize the difference as bad, just different. The Lord has designed us to replace awesome memorization skill in youth with critical thinking and organizational skills as we age. I marvel at that design. As we lose one ability, He replaces it with another. Another very well known public speaker summed it all up so well in Acts 17: 26-28.

26 "And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings,
27 "so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us;
28 "for in Him we live and move and have our being…

The apostle Paul is speaking to the Greeks in Athens. His message uses their “Unknown God” as an example to better describe how God has designed us all, determined the boundaries of our lives and offered us unending mercies so that we may search for and find Him. In Him we live and move and have our very being. How is that for an intimate relationship with our Jesus? My life and my capabilities are unfolding exactly as they should. God is not only my creator, but allows us through faith to be part of Him.

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