My Dad

Psalm 37:18 (ESV)

The Lord knows the days of the blameless,

and their heritage will remain forever;

I love my Dad. He always believed in us. He was never a helicopter parent hovering over our every move. He would instruct us in the basics of how to run a lawnmower, tractor, skid-steer loader and then walk away. He trusted that we had paid attention to his instructions and watched his example. He believed that we had listened and would remember, or if we didn't remember everything, that at least we had enough sense or smarts to figure it out.

Dad believed in hard work and expected us children to be obedient. We did work hard, but we also had time to play and he often made work fun also. I remember digging potatoes as a kid. He was digging ahead of me and I was coming along behind putting them in a bucket. I came to a spot where he had placed the potatoes in the shape of a smiley face or maybe a word like "Hi". I remember the year he made an obstacle course though the woods for my birthday. My friends and I had so much fun climbing over a wall, running through the stream or dashing between trees and running over tires football-player style. How many kids have that? On another birthday, maybe my 16th, we had a dance in the hay loft. Daddy loved to dance and I remember him really getting into it and kicking his barn boots off high up in the air as he hooped it up with absolutely NO alcohol involved.

Those same lively high-kicking legs won't hold him now. At almost 94 he has become almost bed-ridden in the last week. He's always been able to come back from illnesses, heart surgery, stomach surgery, falls, accidents and various episodes that we thought might take him over the past 15-20+ years. I'm not sure he's going to come back from this latest fall. His legs are tired and worn out from his hard work and play. He still has all his original parts except for the pig valve. No fake knees or hips and that was "some pig". A valve that was expected to last 10 years has gone way beyond.

He's ready to go. He has lived a full life and wants to go be with Jesus, his Savior and Lord. He told my sister and me
on Sunday, "I wish y'all would let me go." It's not ours to say, Daddy. Only God knows the day and the hour that He has appointed to be your last. From our limited view we wonder why he lingers with a sharp mind and failing body, but God has His reasons. Maybe it's to teach me more patience, perseverance and love when age makes my loved one a bit more grumpy and irritable. Maybe it's teaching me to hold my tongue when I'd rather complain. Maybe it's to learn from my sweet mother what sacrifice and service and selflessness really look and act like.

Being a caregiver is tough, especially as the loved one declines more and more. Yet it is also a privilege to be the one to give comfort, to handle gently through words and physical touch and seek to make the remaining days of life on this side as pleasant as possible. To be the one hearing the stories, one more time, of a life well spent; to hear the laughter as a favorite memory of younger days, when legs were strong and nimble, passes over dry lips and tears run down wrinkled, weathered cheeks.

Yes, this is a hard stage of life for Father, Mother and children, but I am so blessed to have had my Dad and Mom for almost 58 years. I am blessed by their love, their commitment to God, each other and all 5 of us children. Our children and grandchildren are blessed to know them and be able to enjoy the fruits of their labor here on the farm. The farm - oh how Dad loves this farm! My prayer is that whenever God says it's time to go, it will be right here from Daddy's beloved farm and the house in which he was born. I am thankful that all of us children are committed to taking care of him right here as long as we possibly can.

So, while this can be a sad time, it is also a celebration of a life lived fully that now anticipates and longs for it's eternal home. A longing to be free from a body that holds him down when he desires to be lifted up to his heavenly Father, where he will have no more pain and where he will be able to walk the streets of gold and be reunited with his parents and siblings. It is also a time to remember how very blessed I am to have this man as my Daddy.

Genesis 25:8 (NET Bible)

Then Abraham breathed his last and died at a good old age, 

an old man who had lived a full life. He joined his ancestors.