God2Share

Today is the first day of October.

These past few months have included a season of firsts.

First child graduating high school.

First child going to college.

First time for me checking the “50-59” box.

Joyful and celebratory moments.

But this particular week on the calendar takes me back to a season of lasts.

Even though eight years have passed since Dad’s death, these moments continue to be raw as if they happened yesterday..

Fall marks the end of one season and the beginning of another in many ways for me.

My body is flooded with memories and emotions as I enter the room where Dad and Mom lived out their last years.

The green leather couch remains and my body settles into the place where Dad last sat.

It is in this room where Dad ate his last meal from the Snydersville Diner.

How I miss going there for lunch with him, eating at ‘the big table,” as he liked to call it.

It is here we had our last conversation and he smiled at me for the last time.

How I miss our talks about anything and everything.

How I miss his smile.

In this room, Dad drew his last breath.

How I miss his presence each and every day.

His last night is not something I talk about often.

To see the shell lying in that rented hospital bed that was once a strong able body, knowing that as each moment passed, Dad was slipping further and further away was a painful image.

His last hours were so restless.

He could not seem to get comfortable.

My mother stroked his head.

My sister rubbed his arm and held his hand.

I curled up beside him to try to calm him.

We spoke softly to him, prayed over him.

At one point, he raised his arms and said :

“Lift me up, lift me up.”

My mother, sister and I were at a loss of what to do.

And then we knew.

We were all holding onto him.

The husband and father could not let go.

He was between two seasons.

One at a time, we quietly left his bedside.

We all remained in the room, keeping watch from a distance.

His body began to relax.

And just as the leaves fall from the trees, there was a gentle letting go.

A change of seasons.

As I reflect on those last moments with him, I know deep in my heart he was getting ready to enter a season of firsts.

First time in his new body, free of pain or discomfort.

First time being reunited with family members and friends who had gone on before him.

First time seeing Jesus.

Joyful and celebratory moments.

Friends, there will be many seasons of firsts and lasts.

But God reminds us in His word that there is a season for everything in our lives.

“For everything there is a season,

    a time for every activity under heaven. 

A time to be born and a time to die.

    A time to plant and a time to harvest.

A time to kill and a time to heal.

    A time to tear down and a time to build up. 

A time to cry and a time to laugh.

    A time to grieve and a time to dance.

A time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones.

    A time to embrace and a time to turn away. 

A time to search and a time to quit searching.

    A time to keep and a time to throw away.

A time to tear and a time to mend.

    A time to be quiet and a time to speak.

A time to love and a time to hate.

    A time for war and a time for peace.”  Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8 NLT

Friends, I do not know what season of life you are in at this moment.

Some seasons are joyful, others more painful and raw.

But in every season, He is with us.

Exercise?

Not always on the top of my to do list.

Probably because it stretches me and takes me out of my comfort zone.

But knowing its benefits, I half heartedly commit to move in some small way.

Typically, the gym provides the kind of security I am looking for when exercising.

It offers a controlled environment.

The speed on the treadmill?

Steep inclines or extra weight?

Obstacles?

All controlled by me.

Watching TV or listening to music brings a welcome distraction to the strain I feel in my body..

If I dare to go even further outside my comfort zone, and into the great outdoors,  I like it to be under “favorable conditions.”

Sunny.

Light breeze.

Flat terrain.

Secretly, I have always been envious of people who run outdoors in all kinds of conditions.

They choose to be completely exposed to the unpredictable elements.

Some days are sunny and the road is clear.

Others the rain comes down so hard, you can barely see the path in front of you.

Some days a gentle breeze washes over you.

Others the gusts of wind are so strong, you feel like there is a wall pushing against you with each step.

Somedays the terrain in flat and easy.

Others the hills are steep and the road is anything but smooth.

Jesus came to earth as a man, out of the comforts of heaven.

He knew the benefits of His sacrifice, and fully committed to move for us..

Walking among men did not offer Him security, but it offered us eternity.

Jesus chose to live in “unfavorable conditions” so that He could remove the obstacles for all mankind to be with our Heavenly Father.

“Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied HImself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of man.  And being in human form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” 

Philippians 2:5-8 ESV

It was not a sunny day when Jesus was crucified on the cross, but the road He had to take was clear.

There was no gentle breeze that washed over our Savior; instead the scornful and hateful comments of man surrounded him.

He did not adjust His burden, but carried the full weight of our sin on His torn and bloodied back, just as was foretold in the Old Testament.

“ He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered Him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted.  But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed.”

 Isaiah 53: 3-5

Jesus was completely exposed.

There was nothing to distract Him from the pain and anguish He felt as He hung on that cross.

But the pain of spending eternity without us was greater.

So Jesus did not choose the easy path or favorable conditions.

He chose us because of His great love.

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.”  John 3:16

This promise remains, that He will walk with us no matter the conditions we face.