"Leaven" (Matthew 14:13-21; Mark 6:30-44; Luke 9:10-17; John 1-73) [Module #41]
Dawn today –
The day in life my father lived
As far as life for him pressed on,
And then “he passed” –
As “passed” is how they speak
Of things like death ’round here –About nine hours from now –
That’s all he had, and then he “passed” –He’d said to me, “It’s not my plan
To die right now –
I thought I get another twenty
Years – but that is life I guess.”He’d called me in one day,
Concerned that he might go right out
The other end of life,
And miss the best –
The sense of living presence of the
Spirit in his life;
He’d wanted it,
But had not felt at all
It’s warming glow
Or known its deep
Empowering presence in his life.I’d prayed for him,
With hands laid on –
He’d drifted off to sleep,
And spoke no more about it to the end.Then, at that time together
As we each said our goodbyes,
And celebrated life
That once had walked our streets,
The Parson said,
He’d spoken with my uncle,
Who had talked a lot with dad
Those quiet nights
Of vigil-keeping towards the end –Seems dad had said,
“I’ve never felt His presence
As the warming Spirit Dove,
But in this time of dying,
I have seen His power –
And that’s confirmed to me
All I’d believed
Throughout my life –
And it’s okay.”I knew in that brief time,
He’d had confirmed
In his own way,
What I had known as well.I learned a lot that day –
That gifts we have
(Though “gifts” as a way of thinking
At that time was still some years away),
Have much to do
With how God touches us,
And speaks with us,
Confirming who we are in Him –We need not press
For all to feel His presence
As we have – or us like
Others of our ken –He Scottish was –
A man not given to
Show of strong emotion –
But a man
Who felt, and thought, and lived,
His life as one in Christ,
Content to live as God designed –And like us all,
Came to His table,
“Not claiming just reward,
But humbly seeking Grace
To carry on”.And so he lived –
And as he died,
He gave to me that gift –
Not in his words to me,
But in his life –And so, today,
Scant hours from now,
As I press on
Beyond the age you were –
And venture out
Into a world
Which neither of us knew –I live for you –
And do some part,
As great or small,
Of that next twenty years
You thought you’d get –Oh yes, I know –
I have to live my life
The way God had in mind
When He invented me –It’s more like this –
Because the power
Which He has shown to you
In dying days,
Is also what I’ve seen
And heard these many years,
And come to move within –Know this –
That as I live,
I know there’ll be some
Times that I’ll
Look back and wink –
As you so often did –
And smile,
As we press on
To finish life
As victors in
His race –’Till setting sun
On both our lives
Together here –
On planet earth.Thanks Lord, for this.
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