FollowDeath. No matter how often we encounter it, we never get used to it. Even when we expect it, when it happens, it feels unexpected.
This morning at 6:30, I received a call from my sister-in-law telling me that my father just passed away. He had been in very poor health for many years, yet he lived to see 89 years old. If you’ve been around Elim for a few years, you know that my father’s relationship with his children was conflicted. For 50 years, these relationships were complicated by his physical and emotional pain and, to some degree, mental illness. He didn’t want to be this way. No one ever does. It just is. There were times when he would be kind, empathetic, and even joyful. Then there were times when that would all change. No one understood why, and I suspect neither did he.
As I processed our family’s loss, I was able to experience deep gratitude to my father and to my heavenly Father. I know Earl Schlomer wasn’t the man he wanted to be. I can’t hold this against him. Instead, I can identify. All of us feel this way! However, I rejoice that he is now a new man! He is now the man he aspired to be (1 John 3:1-3)! This never takes away the tears, but it does fill them with hope and meaning.
No one is ever born with the tools necessary to overcome their physical, emotional, and even mental challenges. All of these demons conspire to sabotage our most sincere aspirations of who we long to be. This is why we work together to learn from one another, to equip and encourage one another in these aspirations, and to show grace when we fall short, which will happen daily! This is why it is critically important for us to bear with one another in love (Ephesians 4:2). Don’t lose hope! On some expected but unexpected day, we will be the person we aspire to be! Until then, we choose to give grace, love well, and hold onto hope. God’s grace is GREAT!
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Sorry for your loss. I have this moment yet to occur, but am waiting for when I too will be called to step up and walk in same steps you have recently. Inspiring words that you shared I only hope to mirror.