What Higher Duty?

I placed the last of my groceries on the conveyor belt and absently scanned the tabloid rack. When my gaze settled on Liz Taylor’s picture on the front page of one of the papers, I did a double-take. Before I realized it, I was staring.

I don’t remember seeing many movies starring Ms. Taylor, but one in particular stands out in my memory. She played Kate in Shakespeare’s “Taming of the Shrew,” with Richard Burton. Ms. Taylor was a remarkably beautiful woman in her younger years.

I picked up the paper and showed it to my wife. She nodded, understanding my unspoken surprise. Time and life-experiences take their toll even on the rich and famous.

That’s probably why, before I paid for my groceries, Solomon’s words in Ecclesiastes chapter 12, returned to my thoughts:

“Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come . . . Remember Him - before the silver cord is severed, or the golden bowl is broken; before the pitcher is shattered at the spring . . . and the dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.”

“Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.”

I placed the groceries in the trunk, snapped it shut and thought, I might never appear on the cover of a tabloid. But one day someone might find my photograph stuck away in a weathered photo album. Time and life-experiences will affect me, as they will everyone else. I hope I will have learned through time and experience to fear God and keep His commandments.

What higher duty have I?

Or you?

Rmaffeo@comcast.net