Concealed Greatness ( a letter to my father)
Some greatness is concealed.
Not to everybody, but to the majority.
God understands that. He displays
His greatness on a daily basis, but yet there is an element of concealment, and
most are blind to the wonder of it all.
Yet He is still great and His goodness continues.
There are things that are ‘great’ in my memory of being your
daughter.
You are big. I
always took pride in the fact that my daddy was ‘big’. I loved hearing my peers exclaim, “He’s sooo
tall!” To, me it was so rewarding that
they could see right away that you were special.
I loved your hands.
They are big too, and I loved the look of how big and strong they
were. I loved to hold that hand as we
were coming and going. I loved seeing
your hand holding a pen and scribbling (yes, scribbling!) out your theological
thoughts. I liked seeing them working
on projects around the house for mother or piddling with an engine or motor.
I remember the greatness of being held in your arms after a
good spanking! The spankings were
definitely painful and did their work, but the rest I felt in my heart and the
bonding I felt with you when being held afterward still warms me.
Bikes. I remember
dragging a junk bike across the Zeman Elementary school yard. It was humiliating because this school had
ritzy kids in it that would sneer at my bike and occasionally make mocking
comments. I think Esther told you what
was going on, because it wasn’t long before you surprised me with a brand new
cinnamon colored Schwinn ten speed! I
was struck as new things of any kind were a rarity at our house. I felt loved and cared for. I kept it for way too many years!! Then a few years ago, you heard I was
struggling keeping my balance on another old bike and you bought me a new ‘granny’
bike with all the bells and whistles!! I
love cruising on my bike and thinking of my Father’s love!
Extremism. Within the
Kingdom, it was ALL for God or not for God at all. As a first generation Christian, you leaped
the boundaries to do things that were quite unusual for one not raised in a
Christian home. You stepped in when the
school called for dances or evolutionary science. You taught us not to date when no one had heard
of that before. You prayed and praised
loud, hard and long. You uprooted your
family and went to unfamiliar cities because you felt the call of God to do
so. Messages that were loud and clear
to us on being cross cultural and of obedience to the Lord.
Humor. Your dry
sense of humor made me laugh and made me proud.
Time. You valued us
by spending family time and vacations, but we’ve talked about that before. And then there were the Saturday mornings of
tennis when I got older.
Now that I’m an ‘older’ adult, I enjoy these qualities in
God. He is BIG and I’m proud of that
and thankful for his protection over us.
His hands are loving and caring. His
discipline is horrible just like yours but it brings good fruit. He gives me good gifts like you have given
me bikes. He surprises me and blesses me
beyond what I deserve. God is radical
and your example helps me accept and understand that. God makes me laugh and gives me joy. God cares enough of me to spend time with me
and I know that’s true because my earthly Father thought I was valuable enough
to do so.
All these lessons are learned and accepted as God
intended. HE designed families and the father to teach the
child about a relationship with God. I
praise the Lord that you have done well!
Thousands know and love you, but the greatness is still
concealed to it’s full extent from many of them. You aren’t a common name in the world …not
even in the Christian world. But, true
greatness does not have to be well known to exist.
