Shine On!

I did not shed a tear today.  Not one little bitter stream of water trailed down my rosy cheek.  I did not huddle under the covers and wish this day would end.  

Something no one tells you about grief is that life goes on. As you bury a loved one there was still traffic on the highway, people still went to work, children played on the playground, babies were born and families gathered around a table for dinner. This is a significant part of grief, because when you lose someone dear to you, it leaves a gaping part of your world unfilled.  The things that person did, the simplest of things, become profoundly voided in your life and I think that is why you feel like the world should halt, if not just for a moment, to make significant the life you saw as so important.  

Today would be my daddy's 79th birthday.  We would celebrate this day with family gathering together, we would have his favorite cake, we would talk and laugh and nothing significant and everything significant would happen all in the same breath. My dad was not a Nobel Peace Prize winner, a great inventor, a profound leader or a star of the silver screen.  No flags will be raised to half mast, no twenty one gun salutes will be sounded, no parades made in his honor.  However, I still face, each year, a cataclysmic sized gap in my world that otherwise keeps spinning.  Apple cake and my dad's silly jokes, talking about random places and searching maps for long lost treasures from trips past would mean nothing to anyone other than me, but those tiny tidbits are what shape the memories that signify a loss to those of us left behind.  

My dad was a bright light to the world around him.  He loved God and made no excuses as to why. He prayed for anyone he felt needed it and read the Bible like some of us read the New York Times Best Seller list.  He quoted Scripture with chapter and verse, stood firm on the use of the King James Version.  He loved my mom like no other, he brought her back to God and was a spiritual leader of our family.  I have more memories, big and small, that could fill this blogpost every day for years. But, the significance of this one is today he is missed, every day he is missed.  This year, to mark this day, I created an art piece that I am working on having printed on t-shirts.  My dad loved 'This Little Light of Mine' and in honor of him I am reminding all those around me to shine your light bright for all those around you.  

Matthew 5:16King James Version (KJV)16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.