I was blessed to catch up
with a wonderful friend
at the kitchen table this week.
In the passing of all of our life ways-
I had missed the news about the death of her father.
I have listened to the story
of caring for her father-
William or Bill, for many years.
She shared with me the story
of the challenging end of life days-
when it became even harder to care for a father-
who was frustrated with all of the
ups and downs of health,
moving,
situations out of his control,
and just plain old hard days.
Liz knew she had to DO SOMETHING
to help her attitude
in the middle of all the mess.
So she began an acrostic list
in a journal of all the attributes and gifts
that were her FATHER.
Underneath all the words and attitude
they were experiencing together right now-
there was still her loving dad.
In a last move her father
didn't want anything brought
into the room of his "old life" as he knew it.
SO she printed up the words
on the computer and her daughter, Natalie,
did the lovely script lettering.
They framed the tribute to William
and gave it to him.
She told the story of one day
on a visit she found her dad sitting
and holding the frame - up real close-
to read the words that described him.
Don't we all need others to remind us
about gifts given to us
by a Heavenly Father in hard days?
Her father died just a few days
after his birthday this year
and they added these notes
to the back of the frame
and displayed it at the funeral.
In an Open Studio gathering,
Liz brought color copies of images
she wanted to put together
in a small booklet called a "Faithable".
She had pulled it out of the box
of unfinished projects.
We all have THOSE boxes right?
Yes, remember.
Remember the dash of our lives.
What small things we lift up
to be completed by God's Faithfulness to us.
Some things we will see finished in our lives-
and many we will not.
We will always do things "partly"-
unless we do this ONE THING WHOLLY-
LOVE the Lord your God
with all your soul
and with all your strength.
And so we REMEMBER-
as we are the "sandwich generation"
that will take care of our children
as we care for our parents.
And our children
will be have this same lot in life.
So-- this is an example
of when you take a KAIROS moment,
(when GOD breaks into your world),
and take the time to observe,
reflect and discuss just what happened.
Then Liz made a plan,
made an accountable decision,
(to come to the Open Studio)
and acted.
As a BUSY WORLD LIFE schedule
dismembers us,
a quiet afternoon can allow us to
be "put back together"-
remember.
We are reminded of the love
of a heavenly Father, who
ALWAYS REMEMBERS us-
day in and day out -
in the dash of our short lives.
May we bring Him Glory-
as William did-
with God planted firmly in the center.
And may we make choices TODAY-
of the legacy we leave
for the next generation in
Telling the Story-
of HIS FAITHFULNESS.
Liz Murphy-Heinitz is a member of
Prince of Peace Lutheran Church
in Springfield, VA.
