The Unbroken Cord

It is never broken, it never fatigues. I had a very dear friend pass away last year. She died of cancer. We were living in another state and on our visits, it was hard to see the stages take hold physically. She was who she always was but on each visit, a little step down a little more pain reflected in the eyes of her husband , newly adopted son and daughters. It was a quiet and peaceful exit and while it tore at us all, it was peace we knew she had entered.  I used to think that when one got on the other side that the battle was over and the victory won. I don’t think that anymore. They all look back. They remember us as much as we remember them. They see the Presence we all long to see. They do not grow weary like we do. They know the outcome. They know the importance of prayer. They see their words, the words of us all burning as incense before the Throne and the glass sea. They smell the fragrance of prayer like we cannot. They know prayer is more than words there. They know that it has a fragrance, it has body by its wafting before the great I Am. So what is it they do? Their most important work: they worship and they pray. What do they pray about? Us. Their thoughts are of Him…and us. Of this I have no doubt. It is my conviction that there is not a separation in the body terrestrial and celestial. The Bible clearly teaches that the body of Christ is not separated into parts. Some part is here while some is there. You see what binds us together is not time or space. It is a force greater than any dimension and how we measure things this side of eternity. It is love. It is love that binds us. It is love that causes us to look forward and for them to look back to urge us on and to pray for us.

About What? 

When I say they pray, I guess the normal question to ask is ‘About what?’ There is total recall. They see us as we were and I believe as we are and will be. The pain they feel there is not their own, it is our pain. And they join in unison with the Power, the Son of God and intercede and supplicate. They bring us constantly before the Throne. They have gone ahead and their service is more powerful than any earthly power. Their faith is now perfected and focused. On what? Us. I have a personal belief that loved ones that have gone before us pray and I always gave that lip service. But one thing I know now I did not know then. People pray for me and my family and those that love you who have gone on do too.

Our Arc back to God's will

All these thoughts give me incentive to believe and to continue to pray. Heck, there is not a day that I do not think of my kids and when I do I lift my thoughts about them heavenward.  I know that I am a passing thought at times to them. I am a marker in their lives and nothing more. They have moved on and gotten so busy with the industry dysfunctional groups so often exude. How do I know? I did. The thing to understand in this particular group is the strategy to do just that. There is no time left to think about anything else. In this place church is a focus and there is a school that requires parents to support the school with time. That is not a bad thing at all but when there are hours of homework, church attendance and school support there is little time left to do much else. Life becomes a routine focused not on family (although they tell you it is) but on the church. It is justified by the group in that it is service to God. I guess in a way it is but I can’t help but think it is more than that and borders on worshipping the church. If it weren’t for the silver thread of prayer that ties us together, there would be nothing else. Fortunately that is the most powerful of cords because they are made of sheared love. The cord is frayed but still holds and always will because it is built on nothing but love. They have been conditioned not to love us, but ours is unconditional. It cannot be struck down or cut off. The fact is we will always be there and no power on earth or heaven will change that. When my daughter and her family came back into our lives after leaving the group, I have seen suspicion and mistrust slough off like another skin. They are who they used to be but much wiser. So we go on together now. There is not  a morning where my wife does not get a call or make one. A few weeks ago, my daughter came to stay with us for a few days. In that time, she reviewed for hours all the pictures we had boxed up. My three children were spread through all of them (what else do we take pictures for? ). It was a swirl of emotion. Prom, football, basketball, holidays, birthdays,  smiles, laughter and silliness. I believe she wanted to re-connect to the past and that was the portal for it. They all were waiting for her. We had carefully put them away in faith hoping for a day that finally occurred for one of my children. They will be there for the others. They wait. They are snapshot prayers, each one and represent the thoughts my wife and I have had over the years of separation. They have pulled away but we have gotten closer. That is the unique thing about love. It is in the separation and even neglect it flourishes. It is not based on conditions, it is not based on time or contact. It is based and seated in the connections that blood makes. They are who they are. We used to hear from the pulpit that fact denigrated and eschewed. The leader would grimace as they used the phrase 'Well, that's just the way I am' as a slight and an unaccepted condition before God. What a path to judgement that the leader has built for himself. It is a lie and even perhaps an affront to God Himself to believe such and if the truth be told a form of self-hatred. I wonder what in life made them think this way. Really as I look back I have pity. I have never met someone with so much  self-loathing the they built an entire life on changing the unchangeable. God's personal design of each of us.

The Obscure Altar, Our Arcing back to the Will of God

 Early I said I was a marker. I would like to change that thought. You know when Abraham journeyed out of the promised land into Egypt for a time due to conditions beyond their control (I believe my children still can relate to that), when he returned, he came to the Oaks of Mamre where he had previously entered the land God was to give him as an inheritance. There he built an altar to remember his entry and his re-entry into God’s will to which he had arced and finally returned. God was there waiting on Abraham's return. No, I am not a marker, I would say I am an altar meant to stand as a monument and an entry point back into the life of joy and laughter they once knew and had replaced with the grayness of religious effort. God is waiting there along with all of us on their return and we always will. My wife and I stand here (and now our daughter and her family) , we never tire of standing there through strength to weakness to death. We will always pray and wait this side and on the other side. There is no stronger bond than family no matter what others may say. Dysfunctional Religious groups can deny that but it is a hollow lie.

So we pray. We know others pray. We grow stronger while all that divides us dissipates like a vapor because it is not based on the one cord that cannot be broken….Love.

P.S. this is my 100^th blog entry!