Morning January 4th, 2014 Today Shirley took down the Christmas tree and the seasonal decorations. I really enjoy how she decorates the house and make the season come so alive with her special touch. I have to be honest though, seeing all the Christmas decorations down has relieved me of the reminder of how different this season has been this year. I also went up in the attic and nailed down the plywood so it wouldn’t move around when we put the boxes back. All our attic storage has been in the garage. We put a lot of things to one side or the other of the garage so we could pull the truck into the garage in addition to all the things we put back in the attic. The truck hasn’t been in the garage since the improvements that were made in November. More objects were thinned out today. Shirley took them to the Salvation Army this time. We will keep downsizing until we are satisfied and we aren’t satisfied yet. Life is different now. In a way we have been encouraged to make changes in our environment too. We have been on our own now for nearly ten years. Kendra went off to college in the fall of 2000. She came home briefly only to move into an house and share expenses with some of her friends. When she graduated Kendra worked in our area and then moved to a job in the Fort Walton Beach area. Her life changed and she moved on to more responsible jobs in Orlando and then in time married Ed. I cannot tell you how happy that made us. I am just saying life changes. Sometimes the changes are wonderful and we adjust to those changes. In other times the changes can be difficult or even truly heartbreaking as the passing of Kendra was for us. In either situation, life has to be faced and decisions have to be made about how to pick up the pieces and put the journey back together. There will always be problems, there will always be choices. The choices are the not always good. Choices can come down to selecting the least troublesome of a number of unsavory choices. If you can do it, make life better by engaging in activities with others. The isolation I felt during the first few months of our recovery from losing Kendra were dreadful. At times I felt as if I was looking at the world through a window and everything going on around me was just out of reach. I felt like the sounds I heard, the conversations I was part of were muffled. They weren’t quite real. I think trauma takes a lot of time to overcome for some and more so for others. In those early months I had friends present quite a bit. Just the presence of another human is reassuring. I may not have felt a lot better, but I didn’t feel as bad as I could if I had been by myself. “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.” James 1:27 I love the book of James for its practical advice. Do what the word says to do. Help others especially those who are not able to help themselves or have such pain or sorrow that they need a hand. What good is it to be well off if one does not help others in some way or another? Helping those that are hurting is the religion of God personified in action. Our faith is strengthened when we help others. Our actions allow our faith to shine and to honor God. Our deeds are how our faith is displayed for all to see. “The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.” ― Ralph Waldo Emerson Emerson knew a lot about the tragedy of life. His first wife passed away quite young and his five year old son died of tetanus. This and other family deaths shaped his outlook at times which would appear in his writing as a complex study of transcendental ideas. He always liked to think of himself as an optimist. Even optimist have dark moments and after his child died Emerson went through a time of reflection. He understood that pursuing happiness alone is not enough. I don’t subscribe to the transcendental philosophy. What I do understand is what Emerson felt. I think I need to be useful and willing to listen to another person that need some kind of help. I can help myself if I am able to help someone else. That is the reality of living, even after life has punched me hard and I have had to get up and be true to God and myself. The time is coming that I will find a way out of my home and into the circle of others. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. John 5:24 Remember when a parent would say your entire given name? They really wanted your attention and they wanted it that second. When Jesus would use the word “truly,” it was time to put down what you were doing and listen. Here in John 5:24 Jesus says the word truly twice. Oh my, get as close to Jesus as you can and hear what He is about to say. Here Jesus tells me that with belief in Him, I have eternal life. That ultimately, judgment will be in my favor. And, here is the best part, after my physical death, a spiritual life is waiting, waiting until the day Jesus comes back to this world when my body will once again be restored. Yes these times are difficult and maybe happiness will return, or maybe not. I know though through faith, I will be healed. God is good. Dad
Posted on: Sun, 04 Jan 2015 12:09:00 +0000
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