How Did You Get Here?
My mother
was from Alabama and my father was from Oklahoma. Being an only child,
the gatherings of the two families were very significant events in my
childhood. The Clifts usually gathered at Thanksgiving in Oklahoma, although
occasionally they would meet with us in Texas. In either instance, as
the Clifts arrived they would get out of their cars, greet each other
loudly and immediately discuss the ways they had traveled. I can still
hear my father and his brothers asking each other, “How did you
get here?” And the many different answers; short-cuts, weather problems,
highway numbers, stops for lunch or coffee in favorite eating places,
detours and road conditions! All were told with great Clift style, detail
and conviction that the teller’s way was the best way. It was wonderful.
It was family - hugging each other, laughing together without the need
of a joke, looking for traces of the old generation in the faces of the
new, “Oh, Hube, she’s got your eyes, but she’s got her
mother’s smile!” And often during the time together there
would again be the details of “How did you get here?”
That’s what Christian testimonies are, our way of remembering and
sharing how we got here! “Some through the water, some through the
flood.” In Deuteronomy 8:2 God urges us to “remember all the
way which the Lord has led you.” Share it freely, it helps us celebrate
the reunion - and it encourages the progress of those still making their
way to the Family.
Excerpt from
"Jeannette Clift George, From Center Stage"
