After my Granddaddy Gray went to be with the Lord, my Granny Margery often declared: "The fall of the year is the most lonesome-feeling season." In other words, with the arrival of October, for whatever reason she missed her husband’s presence the most. Perhaps so because fall ushers in the holidays, or maybe because it’s the season when many things die as winter awaits.
Anyway, I never really understood Granny’s thoughts about fall being lonesome-feeling until the last few years and especially this fall for whatever the reason. You see, my Granny’s son, Billy, was my Dad, and today I have missed him something fierce. In fact, as I write these words, I sit alone at the table in our Four Winds RV with a 4x6 framed picture of my Dad in front of me. I’ve been looking at it all afternoon, off and on. To say I’m "missing my Dad" on this fall day is not an overstatement.
In the photo in front of me, my Dad stands strong at 61-years-young. He’s standing on the deck of his shrimp trawler, The Lady Melba, with a shy grin on his face. The image was taken just 10 days before 9/11. Yes, September 1, 2001. It was a different time for sure.
As I look at my Dad’s likeness, It is sobering to my soul because in the photo he’s only two years older than I am presently. It’s a little overwhelming. I am truly lonesome for him. Especially so on this fall day as the temperatures have dropped in the last 24-hours from the low 90s to the middle 50s. Maybe the sudden coolness somehow adds to the lingering grief.
But my grief is "good grief," to quote Charlie Brown. How so? While my lonesomeness for Dad is on the increase, the awareness of the Presence of Jesus is ever-increasing even more so. Yes, it’s good news to my heart to realize that my Dad’s absence from me somehow makes me more sure He’s in the Presence of the Lord. And as my Mom often says: "Because our loved one is present with the Lord and because the Lord is presence with us, could it be we are actually closer to our loved one than ever before?! I say, "Yes, indeed it could be!"
"We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord." (The Apostle Paul’s declaration recorded in 2 Corinthians 5:8 KJV.)
Note: Framed Photo of my Dad is on my Instagram feed — bluegoose220 🍁
Presence Matters Most! No Invisible People!
UNITY!
Pastor Kerry Willis
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