Thanks for the Memories Dad

I spoke to a young lady today who shared with me that that time has finally come, her most loved parent has decided to quit the fight, give up on chemotherapy, and enter hospice, at the ripe young age of 48. Stop for a moment and say a prayer for both of them, and don’t worry that you don’t know who the people are, God knows. The conversation jarred my present time to a time so many years ago, watching my own parent slowly walk into the arms of death, to be greeted by the life arms of his God, of his Savior. Momentary sadness and emotional missing of a man I wish I'd know longer, who I wish knew my children, and then the welcoming flooding of joy and peace that he was my dad, that his pain has long been gone, the pain that this young woman and her parent are just now entering.

We need regular reminders like this, of just how blessed life is, and how quickly it can all be taken away. But then, is it really ever taken away? I know that my children can tell stories of their grandfather, whom they've never met, through the stories I've shared with them. His life continues in the memories of those who loved him, in the stories told, and in the retelling by people who never were blessed to know him. Most of us have people like that, who've crossed over, some before their time, who continue to live in the stories from our hearts, our minds, some joyful, some sad, and some painful.

In such times, we realize that all the labels, titles, possessions, etc., are meaningless. It is when we sit in the silence of the reality of life that the world's definitions of importance and success fall from our eyes and we see truth. This truth exists in the ordinariness of an extra ordinary savor that walked the very earth we now walk. Jesus shows us each day that the closer we come to him, the closer we come to the ordinary, the more our eyes see, and the more our heart understands, the greater the degree of serenity and peace grows within our souls. Funny how hard we fight to not be ordinary when who we truly are, in the eyes of our Creator, is a loved child who is extraordinarily ordinary.

Take time to love today. Take time to say I love you today. Take time to be kind to one who is unkind to you. Take time to love a stranger. Take time to pray. Take time to be ordinary. And most definitely, take time to tell the story, and be blessed you have the story to tell.

(The writings in this post are random thoughts and observations and are NEVER intended as professional or personal advice. Take what works and leave the rest. For information on mental health and/or substance abuse help, visit http://www.rodneyvalandra.com and refer to the links page.)

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