Suddenly It Is  Winter....................Jim Jones

                                  Suddenly It Is Winter

    Life can move quickly and may catch you unaware of the passing years 

It seems only yesterday that I was young, starting my life…having no fears

    Yet, in a way, it seems like eons…I often wonder where the years went

I know that I lived them…but can’t recall how most were spent

     But, here am I...in the latter “Season” of my life…How did I get here so fast?  

It caught me by surprise...I knew, of course, life would not forever last 

     Where did the years and my youth go?  Where is the one I used to see

looking back from the mirror at me…smiling so confidently?

     I remember thinking in my Spring that elders were years away from me

and Winter was so far off that I could not fathom nor could I see

     But, here it is, my friends, we’re moving slower and getting gray 

And, guess what…those elders we knew before, We are now they

     I find that just taking a nap may be the best part of the day

Or perhaps smelling a flower… or pausing to pray

     And so...as I enter into this “December” of my life, 

I will always remember the love of my Children and my Wife 

    I look forward to the next great adventure, whatever may come

There are things, of course, I wish I hadn't done 

   And things I should have done, but didn’t ... but now I say with pride

my Wife and my Family were always at my side 

     So if you're not yet in your Winter...beware, it will arrive faster than you think 

If you have things yet to do in your life, start now…don’t blink!  

    Don't put it off too long…do what you can…beginning today

you never know, your Winter may be short…who's to say!

     I believe it is Family, Friends, and Health that is the real Wealth in life,

Not those pieces of silver and gold for which we sacrifice

    I must remember that, in the end, it isn’t what I Gather that’s mine 

 but, rather, what really matters is what you Scatter and leave behind.

Jim Jones