It Hasn’t Seemed Long by Bill Childers

It Hasn't Seemed Long...
Why, it seems only yesterday
That I romped the pastures green.
It couldn't have been more than a year,
Or, two... my flanks were long and lean.
It seems it was just week before last,
As best my mind can now recall,
That I was out in my cut-off jeans
Shagging our old worn-out football!

I recall how my dad loved to pitch
The baseball fast and clean,
How it would burn my hand and hurt...
The fastest I'd ever seen!
He'd kid me about having soft hands,
I'd say the glove was thin.
And, just to prove who was right...
He'd fire one in again!

Oh, how things change, time moves on,
And we think we want to grow.
Now we look back, everything's a blur,
And we thought it was going slow!
But, now we know how really fast
Time and life travel by.
It seems now that so many things
Got lost in a ‘tear'... and a 'sigh'.

I grow tired trying to remember
Good times past and gone,
Certain that life is as good
As any I've ever known.
Old friends long-since passed
Over distant roads and ways.
My mind remembers far too much,
Reaching for those better days!

I struggle for the busy kitchen,
With hot biscuits fresh-made;
For fried chicken, busy hands,
The dining table neatly laid;
Mother catching a fast-hand
Sneaking an early taste...
It made her feel good to know
Nothing would go to waste!

I guess changes are not fun
No matter how they come.
But, like with anything else...
One might be easier than some.
We think we want things different,
But we're not sure how.
It just seemed that anything's
An improvement on now!

Looking-back is catching up,
If our mind's eye is keen.
Our vision's greatly enhanced
By all we've done and seen.
The wonderful days of hearth and home,
Now passed-from-view,
Become an exciting ingredient
In things we're called to do.

So, it hasn’t seemed long
Since days of yore and such.
And, if we really look closely,
What counts... hasn't changed much.
The Lord's still as close,
His hand yet near and strong.
No matter the pain of change...
No matter the ill... or wrong.