Father's Day 2021
I remember, even for years afterwards, picking up the phone to call her and then remembering she was in heaven and I couldn't reach her via phone. In all my adult years, we lived far enough from one another that it was always a long distance phone call. For those of you who are younger than 40, you have to understand that in those days you paid per minute for every call. Often the local calls (same area code) were free, but if you called to a different area code it was expensive. But graciously, Bob never complained about my hourly call with Mom and Dad each week, nor the occasional calls when something that they would have enjoyed occurred and I made a quick call.
And so, today, Father's Day, with Bob's dad having been gone less than a month, I knew would be difficult for Bob. We were going to have lunch with his Mom and the one son who is in town, which would be helpful. All was well until it became evident that the next song we were to sing was "It is Well."
Bob's dad had written down his thoughts for his funeral, which was a real blessing. Something every adult should do, no matter your age! We never know when our time on this earth will be up and it is a blessing to those left behind to not need to think through what you might like.
But "It Is Well," was listed as the last song and the family vetoed that request of his. Bob's brother was killed in a motorcycle accident the day after Bob graduated from college. Steve was a young married father with a 3 year-old daughter. "It Is Well" was played at his funeral and it has been a hard song for the family since then. I even went so far as to ask the pianist that was playing for Dad's funeral not play that one as part of her prelude or postlude as I knew it would be difficult if family members heard it being played.
But the Lord had allowed that song to be played this morning. Tears were rolling down both of our faces. My initial reaction was "Oh no. Not today!" But it is not accidental that the Lord allowed that song to be song. Nothing is accidental in life. And so as I have been pondering it, while I will never know why, nor do I need to know, a few thoughts came to mind.
Grieving is important. We are never told not to grieve. Even Jesus grieved at the tomb of his friend he would shortly be raising from the dead. But sin brought death and I remember someone saying that Jesus grieving at the tomb of Lazarus was in essence his saying, "It didn't have to be this way." Sin's arrival and the penalty of death that came with it was the result of our rebellion against God. And while death no longer has its sting, due to the gift provided to us by Jesus death and resurrection, until He returns as king, there will always be death and there will always be grief. Grieving is the only appropriate response to death. Sometimes we don't want to grieve, sometimes we don't want to be seen crying, but it is appropriate. It didn't have to be this way. It's the result of sin. We always need to grieve sin and we need to grieve death.
We are to grieve, but not as those without hope. My favorite stanza of this hymn is the stanza that confused me as a child. "My sin, oh the bliss of this glorious thought..." (I always wondered why sin was a glorious thought??? Wasn't it something bad???) But it is what follows that is truly glorious.
My sin—oh, the bliss of this glorious thought—
My sin, not in part, but the whole,
Is nailed to His Cross, and I bear it no more;
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul
And while death, the result of sin, is painful for those of us left behind, we know that because of God's grace lavished on us, is not the end of the story. We grieve and yet we truly are NOT without hope. We know that our dads and my mom are already in heaven, rejoicing, enjoying an end to their pain, the difficulties of life. And we know that we will spend eternity with them and with the Savior who died for us and nailed our sin to the cross, so that we bear the penalty NO MORE.
Yes, as difficult as it is to sing it today, it truly is well with my soul.
Comments