thesoulpurposedotorg

It’s been three years since my Dad died and for some reason I am feeling sadder this Father’s Day weekend than I was each previous year. I’m letting the tears flow and the grief work it’s way. I’m listening to Hymns on Pandora and remembering singing these old hymns either standing on the pew next to him when I was a child or watching him sing in the choir in his later years. Sometimes we’d sing duets at home while he plunked out the melody on the piano. But my favorite was watching him sing hymns while he rode his precious John Deere law mower.
Recently I was visiting my Mom and brothers for a few weeks. I always look forward to mowing the grass Dad mowed and I too sing while sitting on his old mower. I get his joy in doing the simple work of life. He saw work as worship and joy. Such a rare way of life!
So this weekend as I do the laundry and mop a floor, and put things back together after a months long renovation I am singing along with those hymns on Pandora. And tomorrow, if the sun shines I will be mowing our small patch of lawn singing along with Dad in the heavens. I’ll think all night of which hymn to sing because it will barely take the length of one hymn before our lawn is clipped. No matter – I probably won’t remember all the verses anyway. But my Dad will know them and he will complete those hymns just as he completed a life so very well lived.