Do it now. Love, Dad.
What are you living for?
In other words, if you could do anything in this life and knew that you wouldn’t fail, what would you do?
I’ve been thinking about this much lately. I have been invited to preach this Sunday in San Francisco and the text is from Matthew 10 where Jesus instructs his disciples to pick up their crosses.
As I prepared, it has become clear that the cross has often been used as a symbol of death, instead of life. Much like the tragedy with Martin Luther King, Jr. who was killed by a sniper, perhaps another way to view his life is that he just didn’t die for justice but he gave his life and lived for justice and civil rights.
This got me thinking, the cross is not just what Jesus endured and therefore died for, but rather a symbol of all that he lived for: justice, mercy, and love for all of humanity.
Which leaves me wondering… what am I living for?
What am I willing to pick up my cross and face?
In January 1996 one month prior to his retirement my father was diagnosed with Stage IV terminal kidney cancer. When I heard the news it felt like someone shoved a size 14 Timberland boot down my throat and stomped on my guts.
I expressed to my dad how unfair this seemed. He told me that he had a great life and to go out and live my life. Not to wait until the end to decide what I died for but to choose today what I will live for. I was crying because his life was over and he was rejoicing because it happened.
About two months before my father passed he gave me a small wooden plaque that he made, on it he carved, "Do it now."
Thanks, Dad.
5 Comments:
Powerful reminder. That seems to be a theme in my life lately, in fact I just got done posting about living a life you love rather than working to live a life you like (or something like that...)
Your dad sounds like a wise man. I understand what's it's like to hear those words, I lost my father to cancer also.
Maybe our dads are up in Heaven together hanging out???? Ya never know.
Funny - "powerful" is exactly the descriptor I already had in mind before seeing well woman's comment!
Yes, powerful post, and a fitting counterpoint to badchristian's post today. What is it that we will live for?
Each day, I hope to live my life in a way that will make God proud, raise my daughter with a healthy outlook, and not harm others. Each day, I hope that in some small way, I can help someone else to recognize the beautiful person behind all of life's confusion.
Thanks for the spark to thought.
Simple and powerful. I think that thing your dad gave you is kinda cool...
Do it now.
beautiful piece Rick.. thanks for the incredible reminder.
One of the men I've met at Fourth Presbyterian in Chicago is a 67 year old man with full-blown AIDS. He will tell you to your face that getting his diagnosis was one of the best things that could have happened to him. When I heard that, I thought, "What asylum did YOU escape from??"
But then he continued: "Once I got diagnosed with AIDS, it was the death of the 'Scarlet O'Hara' syndrome. I couldn't say, 'I'll do it someday,' because I didn't know how many days I had left. So the horrific news of my diagnosis kicked me out of 'someday' and into 'today'."
It would be a real fantasy to imagine my dad saying anything like this to me - but I think my Mom would have jumped on it big-time. She was an in-your-face kind of woman!
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