Some background information on me and my dad...we would take long road trips together while listening to music or a sermon and talk only when something hit us just right about the song or sermon or some topic hit our mind...we sometimes would discuss the sermon as it was being spoken and/or sometimes after...we would watch sporting events together in our family room while we each had our own large bowl of popcorn...we would "hang out" at the church where he was the pastor, he in his office, me either in the secretary's office as she was gone or "performing" on the stage in the sanctuary where I had songs set up and would sing along pretending I was in concert (dad was near so we were together)...when Dad and I were together...we rarely spoke...but we were together and that presence thing was what mattered most to me....As dad was on his last days in his hospital bed we had many quiet moments; some with conversation. During one particular conversation I looked at Dad and said, "you know, Dad, we never really talked a lot." He turned and looked at me and said, "no, only about what was important." THAT was our relationship! We had a togetherness but didn't need a lot of words...just about the meaningful things.
Dad and I approached this little greenish house that was surrounded by cedars and beautiful pine trees. The yard was that grassy-sandy yard. The front door was a metal screen door with window panels and there was a heavier inner wood door. We stepped inside. I could smell a sort of woodsy smell from our surroundings.
Dad and I walked through the rooms. None of them really stand out. We didn't talk. We walked and observed. Every room was a hue of green. I felt him beside me so I knew he was there. We came to the last room to view. It was the living room. There were built in book shelves. There was no furniture in the room. There were no books on the book shelves. Everything in the house was tidy and clean. The empty book shelves bothered me as I like to read and checking out people's books sort of tells something about the person living in the house. We stood side by side and I said to my dad, not turning his way but continuing to stare at the emptiness in the house and on the book shelves, "everything is empty. There is nothing here." He replied, "they were ready to go!" His words stood still inside my head. "They were ready to go!" We stood looking at the emptiness, neither of us saying a word. I could smell the closed up woodsy smell of the house and feel the coolness of the atmosphere. Dad spoke meaningfully yet simply as he did another time to me when he was on his hospital bed. He looked up at the ceiling and said, "people need to learn to think about nothing." I asked, "how do you do that?" He turned to me and said, "you just do!" So, whoever lived in this now empty house was "ready to go!" So simple! Few words needed. Dad and I stood beside each other until I awakened.
So simple! That house was empty, clean, fragrant, with a pleasant atmosphere. Whoever lived there was ready to go! They had given all!
How do you see that house? What do you make of it being empty? What does my dad's statement, "they were ready to go" mean to you?
I don't know where the belongings of this house were. It doesn't matter. The owner had cleared everything out and was ready to go!
The house was empty. Empty of all but what needed to be there. The foundation was there. The various rooms were there. The aroma, that woodsy smell, was there. Does your mind, heart, and soul have space for Jesus? Does your mind have the space for learning scriptures? Does your heart have the space for more compassion? Does your soul have space for the Holy Spirit? Do you need to clear out your "house" to be ready to go?
That house had a comfy~cozy feeling...a feeling of familiarity. The one who was ready to go did leave something behind. What was left behind was the knowing! Knowing that we need to de-clutter ourselves and create the vacancy to be filled with learning more of what Father wants. The bookshelves were empty. The reading (learning) had been done. There was nothing to dust. There was no furniture. What had been needed...gone!
"They were ready to go!"
That house had a comfy~cozy feeling...a feeling of familiarity. The one who was ready to go did leave something behind. What was left behind was the knowing! Knowing that we need to de-clutter ourselves and create the vacancy to be filled with learning more of what Father wants. The bookshelves were empty. The reading (learning) had been done. There was nothing to dust. There was no furniture. What had been needed...gone!
"They were ready to go!"
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