Friday, August 3, 2012

work and reflect

My Dad died a week ago. A good friend asked me recently how I was experiencing God's presence in this. I replied by saying that I was balancing work to be done with time to reflect. The work makes me feel productive and keeps me from being too melancholy, but work can also keep me from engaging in and understanding the true significance of this event. So I'm taking a break from the work to write this reflection and explore more God's presence in the situation.

My Dad's heart can be summed up in two things: loving Jesus and loving to share the Gospel. More than ever I am learning to appreciate these two passions that were at the core of his being. I'm busy making arrangements for all kinds of things, but when I stop to think about why I'm doing these things, I realize that it has to all be related to loving Jesus and sharing the Gospel.

So I mourn, but not as someone without hope. I know that I'll see my Dad again and that one day we'll have new bodies and maybe enjoy playing tennis together again. But more importantly, we'll be in the direct presence of the One who loves us most, living in a world redeemed and transformed by the grace and power expressed in our Lord's life, death and resurrection.

And so I work, as someone who looks forward to participating in that redeemed and transformed world and as someone who is learning to love others into that world. I have a long way to go before I learn to love God and others as well as my Dad did while he was here. It's a good reason to keep working and reflecting.

(You can read about my Dad at forevermissed.com/gary-wong.)