A loving Father

My sister-in-law Wendy sent the following story by Edna Ellison to me via e-mail today. I have been trying to find a way for a few days now to start this blog. I guess Wendy is my "angel" today.

MAGNOLIAS...........
By Edna Ellison

I spent the week before my daughter's June wedding running last-minute trips to the caterer, florist, tuxedo shop, and the church about forty miles away.

As happy as I was that Patsy was marrying a good Christian young man, I felt laden with responsibilities as I watched my budget dwindle . ..

So many details, so many bills, and so little time. My son Jack was away at college, but he said he would be there to walk his younger sister down the aisle, taking the place of his dad who had died a few years before. He teased Patsy, saying he'd wanted to give her away since she was about three years old!

To save money, I gathered blossoms from several friends who had large magnolia trees. Their luscious, creamy-white blooms and slick green leaves would make beautiful arrangements against the rich dark wood inside the church.

After the rehearsal dinner the night before the wedding, we banked the podium area and choir loft with magnolias. As we left just before midnight, I felt tired but satisfied this would be the best wedding any bride had ever had! The music, the ceremony, the reception - and especially the flowers - would be remembered for years.

The big day arrived - the busiest day of my life - and while her bridesmaids helped Patsy to dress, her fiance Tim walked with me to the sanctuary to do a final check. When we opened the door and felt a rush of hot air, I almost fainted; and then I saw them - all the beautiful white flowers were black. Funeral black. An electrical storm during the night had knocked out the air conditioning system, and on that hot summer day, the flowers had wilted and died.
I panicked, knowing I didn't have time to drive back to our hometown, gather more flowers, and return in time for the wedding.

Tim turned to me. 'Edna, can you get more flowers? I'll throw away these dead ones and put fresh flowers in these arrangements.' I mumbled, 'Sure,' as he be-bopped down the hall to put on his cuff links.

Alone in the large sanctuary, I looked up at the dark wooden beams in the arched ceiling. 'Lord,' I prayed, 'please help me. I don't know anyone in this town. Help me find someone willing to give me flowers - in a hurry!'

I scurried out praying for four things: the blessing of white magnolias, courage to find them in an unfamiliar yard, safety from any dog that may bite my leg, and a nice person who would not get out a shotgun when I asked to cut his tree to shreds.

As I left the church, I saw magnolia trees in the distance. I approached a house...No dog in sight. I knocked on the door and an older man answered. So far so good . .No shotgun. When I stated my plea the man beamed, 'I'd be happy to!'

He climbed a stepladder and cut large boughs and handed them down to me. Minutes later, as I lifted the last armload into my car trunk, I said, 'Sir, you've made the mother of a bride happy today.'

'No, Ma'am,' he said. 'You don't understand what's happening here.'

'What?' I asked.

'You see, my wife of sixty-seven years died on Monday. On Tuesday I received friends at the funeral home, and on Wednesday . . . He paused. I saw tears welling up in his eyes. 'On Wednesday I buried her.' He! looked away. 'On Thursday most of my out-of-town relatives went back home, and on Friday - yesterday - my children left.'

I nodded. 'This morning,' he continued, 'I was sitting in my den crying out loud. I miss her so much. For the last sixteen years, as her health got worse, she needed me. But now nobody needs me. This morning I cried, 'Who needs an eighty-six-year-old wore-out man? Nobody!' I began to cry louder. 'Nobody needs me!' About that time, you knocked, and said, 'Sir, I need you.'

I stood with my mouth open.

He asked, 'Are you an angel? The way the light shone around your head into my dark living room...' I assured him I was no angel.

He smiled. 'Do you know what I was thinking when I handed you those magnolias?'

'No.'

'I decided I'm needed. My flowers are needed. Why, I might have a flower ministry! I could give them to everyone! Some caskets at the funeral home have no flowers. People need flowers at times like that and I have lots of them. They're all over the backyard! I can give them to hospitals, churches - all sorts of places. You know what I'm going to do? I'm going to serve the Lord until the day He calls me home!'

I drove back to the church, filled with wonder. On Patsy's wedding day, if anyone had asked me to encourage someone who was hurting, I would have said, 'Forget it! It's my only daughter's wedding, for goodness' sake! There is no way I can minister to anyone today.'

But God found a way. Through dead flowers.

Life is not the way it's supposed to be. It's the way it is. The way you cope with it is what makes the difference.If you have missed knowing me, you have missed nothing.

If you have missed some of my emails, you may have missed a laugh. But, if you have missed knowing my LORD and SAVIOR, JESUS CHRIST, you have missed everything in the world.
May God's blessings be upon you.

During Lent, I have been thinking about the responsibility that we all have to pray, fast, and give "alms". Usually, praying and fasting is easy. It's the "giving alms" that always seems to be hard to do. It's not that the actual act is hard, but rather recognizing the opportunity.

Forgive me, Wendy, if I get this story wrong, but I am reminded of the time you went to a mall to shop for one of the holidays and you were the only one around to help a lady who had fainted or fallen. You thought at the time that you were guided to that particular place at that particular time to help that particular woman. She even called you an "angel". Do you remember it?

Another "almsgiving" story I have involves Sarah. She has always shown compassion for the less fortunate and misunderstood of our brothers and sisters in Christ. Years ago, when Sarah was about 8 years old, we (Marilyn, the girls and I) wanted to eat out and were in the mood for Mexican food. We went to a restaurant downtown that has very good food and is easy on the pocketbook (in fact, we still go there often). The only “drawback” is that it is in a neighborhood that most people would consider “dangerous”, because one is always confronted by a panhandler--which does not make the area “dangerous”, just “poor”.

Anyway, Sarah could not finish her meal, and asked the waitress to box it up so she could eat it the next day. On our way out we were approached by a disheveled man who asked for some money so he could “get something to eat”. My thought was “I just bet that’s why you want the money. To eat. Right. It’s probably to go down to the liquor store and buy a bottle of wine. I’m not going to help you kill yourself. So leave me alone.”

But before I could express those thoughts by simply ignoring the guy and walking along, Sarah said “Here, sir” and handed her leftover meal to the man! He was so hungry he opened it right there and “wolfed” it down, proving that he was, indeed, hungry and not just another drunk. He thanked Sarah for the food, said “God Bless you”, and moved on. I was so ashamed of myself for that day, but thankful to God that he blessed me with such a compassionate child.

Many of us look the other way when Jesus presents us with an opportunity to help our neighbor. The only asset we need to fulfill this commandment is Love.

And speaking of love, I've given a lot of thought to yesterday's first reading (2 Chr 36:14-16, 19-23). It speaks of our Father's inexhaustible and unmatched love. His love is like that of a father who tries to teach his son how to play baseball. He spends time to teach him the basics like how to stand, how to hold the bat, how to watch the ball and when to swing. Then, as the child is learning, there are many times his son "forgets" the lessons and the result is a strike out. Dad may become frustrated and discouraged at times, but he still has confidence that his kid will eventually get it. Then comes the day when "Junior" hits it out of the park and all of the misses are forgotten! Oh, what joy! It's the feeling I had when Sarah gave her meal to the homeless man.

We, the children of God, have been taught (through Scripture and Tradition) by Jesus Christ all we need to know to get to Heaven. And a lot of times we "swing and miss" at the "pitches" our Father sends our way. Does He give up on us? NO. He sends the Holy Spirit through the Sacraments to help us recognize the "fastball right down the middle" and we hit one out of the park by using our time, talent or treasure to love Him by loving our neighbor.