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  Flight Paths

I Will Not Wear Black

9/11/2016

2 Comments

 
Yesterday was a special anniversary for our country.  It was also a special anniversary for my family.  We lost someone precious to us. This is what I wrote on that day five years ago.
 
            I will not wear black to my daddy’s funeral.

            I will not cry floods of inconsolable tears.  I may shed some because I will miss his gentle ways and constant concern—he was still my daddy and no matter how old I have grown he never forgot it.  But I will smile through the tears because I know that he is finally pain- and worry-free for the first time in many years.

            I will not wear black to my daddy’s funeral.  I will not deny the faith he lived every day and taught my sister and me.  He did not just talk the talk.  He walked the walk and effected more people than he ever knew.  His gentleness was only surpassed by his passion for living as a Christian. 

            I will not wear black to my daddy’s funeral.  I will celebrate his life with joy because his eternity is not unknown to me.  His was not a desolate life of despair, but one that touched others with its grace.  Men he worked with and for respected him.  Some may not have liked him because he was “too straight an arrow,” but no one ever doubted his honesty.  In a day when we suspect practically everyone of lying to get ahead, to get a promotion, to win an election, to get out of trouble, to salve a conscience, it is truly remarkable that no one who knew him ever doubted his word.

            I will not wear black to my daddy’s funeral.  I will do my best to continue my life as he lived his, facing problems with prayer and optimism, caring for those whom God had made him responsible for, and seeing to every other need that came his way. Many small churches sit in pews he bought, sing from songbooks he paid for, and have preachers they now support only because he helped support them in the beginning.  He never preached sermons there, but they exist in part because he existed.

            I will not wear black to my daddy’s funeral.  He will be wearing white.  What goes with white?  Red, blue, green, purple, even pink maybe.

            Anything but black.
 
For we know that if the earthly house of our tabernacle be dissolved, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal, in the heavens.  For verily in this we groan, longing to be clothed upon with our habitation which is from heaven: if so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. For indeed we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened; not for that we would be unclothed, but that we would be clothed upon, that what is mortal may be swallowed up of life.  2 Cor 5:1-4.
 
Dene Ward
 
2 Comments
Karen Moore
9/12/2016 06:04:44 am

Loved your daddy dearly. I'll always cherish the special memories of times spent with your family. He filled in as a second dad to me while at FC.

Reply
Donna Craig
9/13/2016 03:11:09 pm

It doesn't seem like it's been 5 years already. His influence was so great that I still hear his voice during times of distress, during times of joy, during times of serious decision-making. Even when I'm drinking a cup of coffee I hear him say, as he said to a waitress one time, "You can see a minnow a mile deep in this cup of coffee!" (I got my love of strong coffee from my Daddy, yessir!) He was such a gentle man and I always knew that he loved me. I think of him when we sing certain hymns during worship services. "Hilltops of Glory" to name just one. I first heard "How Long Has It Been" at a service in which he lead the singing. I think he would be thrilled to know that his great-grandson loves to pretend to lead singing!

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    Dene Ward has taught the Bible for more than  forty years, spoken at women’s retreats and lectureships, and has written both devotional books and class materials. She lives in Lake Butler, Florida, with her husband Keith.


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