New Season Traditions...

When I took the dog out around 9:00 pm for his last walk of the evening last night, I almost (key word here - almost!) felt a little chilly!  I think this fall thing is about to get serious.  I was even tempted yesterday while grocery shopping to pick up one of the pumpkin spice candles that seemed to be displayed on every other endcap at the store.  I am excited about the new weather patterns, the colorful leaves falling down around us, the fresh fragrances of nature in the air and yes… even of the Christmas decorations that are already starting to flood into the stores!

It is hard for me to believe that all the nuances of this fall and the holidays ahead will be the second time that I’ll experience them without Piper.  I was looking at a picture of her on the wall in the bedroom this morning and was thinking that I am still having a difficult time accepting the fact that she’s not going to come through the front door again this fall with her signature red coat, blue jeans and white jogging shoes on.  I know she won’t… but it is still hard to grasp the full reality of it just yet!

It has repeatedly been suggested to me over the years that I have been writing the over 1,750 blog posts, that I write a book about Piper’s and my experience.  Lately I have felt a release inside of me to begin that process.  So, I have been jotting down notes, written a bunch of pages and have been caught up in a continual wave of pleasant but at the same time, very painful memories.  I’ll think of an event in our past, smile and then break down.  I can tell that this is going to be a LONG process!  I have also been praying that it will be a very healing process.

It has been good for Fiver though, as he has reaped the benefit of me taking him on a lot more and a lot longer walks each day when I find that I need to step away from my laptop and go outside for a breath of fresh air!  The practice of going outside for some activity when feeling tired, restless or just needing a break was long-ago engraved into my DNA when I was a kid.  Whenever I would get restless or lazy when I was growing up, my Mother would strongly encourage me to “go outside and play… ride your bike… toss a ball with your friends… go out and DO something!”

It was always sort of a joke with Piper and I when we first started dating as she had been basically taught that a good nap was the answer under similar situations.  Needless to say, we bumped heads a few times on that one, but I have to admit as I’m sure our kids would attest to, that she soon changed her mind and became quite an advocate for walks and other outside activities!  That was one of the main reasons that I would bring her and her wheelchair out and about with me every day, no matter if it was 95 or 35 degrees with snow on the ground outside!  We did that until she became bedridden during her last week with us.  I would betcha any amount that she is joyously and gloriously taking daily walks as I write this post, enjoying all the beauty of His holiness that is surrounding her in heaven!

2 Chronicles 20:21 tells us that: “After he (King Jehoshaphat) had advised the people, he appointed people to sing to the LORD and praise him for the beauty of his holiness. As they went in front of the troops, they sang, ‘Thank the LORD because his mercy endures forever!’" 

I couldn’t get away from the picture of The Beauty of His Holiness while I was doing my morning Bible Study earlier today. I wasn’t necessarily thinking about His beauty in heaven, but about how much His beauty shines forth from people on this earth who actively walk in the holiness of His Word and statutes.  I believe that this is the reason that I felt Piper always looked so attractive to me… even as the symptoms of Alzheimer’s distorted her facial features and withered away her body.  

I’ve mentioned before how it would surprise me when I’d look at the screen on the back of my Digital SLR camera after taking a picture of her in the last few years of her life.  It would surprise me because that’s NOT how I saw her when I looked at her.  I tended to see her through the eyes of the spirit.  I always had my eyes focused on the REAL Piper on the inside!  I also believe that this is why it hurt me so much when I would see people who knew her before, look at her with fear, pity and overwhelming sadness in their eyes.  It was pretty clear that they didn’t see what I saw… 

I recently heard an introduction to a song that Gloria Gather (the wife of well-known Southern Gospel song writer, singer and musician Bill Gather) made at a church where she said that even though she personally had known many of the people there for a long time, that to her, they never seemed to grow old because she had gotten to know them through their spirits on the inside and that the aging on the outside had no part of what she saw in them.

Isn’t that a cool way to think about the people you know?  That’s the way I want to look at folks… to see them through the beauty of God’s holiness in them!  … and if what you see isn’t all that beautiful… then maybe it is time to encourage them with the Word of God and/or introduce them to the One who could become their personal Savior and Lord.*

That seems like a New Season challenge to me… What do you think?  Who knows… it could become a new FALL TRADITION for you and your family!

Have a great rest of your week, and as you do, consider saying with me… “I am expecting to take on the challenge of encouraging and blessing those around me this Fall!”

*See Romans 10:9