Past Grief to Gratitude ( Learning from those who have passed on.)

Shortly after I wrote the last blog, my father passed away. Like the Good Marine he was, he heard the words March Forth, and so on March 4th, he went on to his eternal rest.
It was not unexpected.  He had been in a nursing home for 4 and  a half years, in extreme pain, but during that time, he worked out a lot of things that were left unsaid over all the years.  On Thanksgiving of 2012, we were riding in the car out to my son's house for dinner and I glanced over and saw him crying.  Thinking it must be some extreme pain, I asked him if he was ok.  He said to me " I don't know how you can love me after all that I did to you."  It broke my heart to see him so repentant, but it also cheered my heart, for here was a man making amends after so many years.  I told him this.  "Dad, I ask Jesus the same thing every day."

I learned some things from my father over the course of his life.  Both good and bad can teach us if we care to learn. From the bad, I learned what not to do.  From the good, I learned what to do.  Here are the most important things I learned from Daddy, from both sides.  

Be kind one to another, loving and forgiving, even as Christ forgave you.  Be kind to every one, but be especially kind to those of your own household.  The legacy you leave behind lives on in them, for good or for evil.

Forgive as you have been forgiven by the Lord and keep short accounts when you say or do hurtful things.  An unforgiving spirit ties you to the grudge, not the person. If you were the offender, do everything in your power to make things right. If you were the offended, forgive and leave it to the Lord.  

Love in deeds, not just in words. Mean what you say, when you say, “I love you”. Show it in the things you do. This includes everything you do, but most of all what you do for the Lord. Most people will never know how much the Lord loves them, except through your actions.

 

Never argue with a fool, and pick your battles carefully. Some people will never be convinced with words, some battles are not worth engaging in and the ones that are, are won through Christ, and not by your own opinion.  A soft answer turns away wrath.

Finish what you started. Never put off to tomorrow what you can do today.  We are not promised tomorrow.  My dad was notorious in our family for never finishing the projects he started. Nevertheless, in this most important thing, the race he began with his life in Christ, he finished well.  

Well done, Daddy, well done.   

(Please take a moment to listen to the song above.)