A FEW DAYS AGO I WAS indulging in one of my

A FEW DAYS AGO I WAS indulging in one of my favorite pasttimes; reading the comics, and there was this character who goes into a store with a sign thereon which says “Herb Shop.” After said character gets into store and looks around he perceives that it is just an ordinary store, he remarks: “This ain’t no herb shop. Shopkeeper replies: “Yes it is, I’m Herb.”

Well, my name is not Herbert and cannot use the nick-name Herb, yet 1 have been referred to as a sage. Must be the herb kind, the other kind of sage doesn’t fit. “A profoundly wise and venerable man” is my dictionary discription of a sage. ‘Fraid I cannot qualify. Wait! Venerate: to revere because of wisdom or age. In the latter I can qualify; maybe the lady meant I was just an old sage, the herb kind.

In the Good Book, Psalm 90:12 “Teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.” It seems that with a multitude of days we should acquire wisdom; ‘it ain’t necessarily so,” not in my case anyway. Perhaps I read another passage in Holy Writ that warned me not to seek knowledge. Over in Ecclesiastes 1:18 we find this admonition or warning. “With more wisdom is more worry, and increase of knowledge is increase of sorrow.” Do you wonder that I’m the Jolly Joe type? Christ said in effect, “Do not worry about tomorrow, tomorrow will have worries of its own.”

A lady met me the other day and greeted me thus, “Hi, what do you know?” I replied, “Oh, a passel * - (lot) of little odds and ends, not much of anything.” So, you see I am not a sage in the accepted sense; I am not wise. There is a current motto that says, “Smile, God Loves You.” So, if you see me and I am grinning like the Cheshire cat, don’t be surprised; I’m happy because I believe He does. It is my hope that I can still grin and bear it till He calls my name. □