Musing - My Dad

 Today would have been my Dad’s 89th birthday. And he would have loved it like he did all of his birthdays. My siblings and I and many others still miss him terribly since he passed nearly 13 years ago.

My Dad taught me many things. How to fish, how to tell Dad jokes and how to help others. There wasn’t anybody that my Dad could help that he didn’t. I remember talking to my Mom about Dad and she said sometimes he would ask how they could help others, even when they themselves were sometimes struggling with the day to day. And us kids were willing pawns in Dad’s local adventures - shoveling snow, cutting grass, sweeping leaves and other chores for some of the elderly ladies on our block. We all learned how to help and we all still demonstrate that commitment today. 

In Matthew 25:14-30, Jesus tells the Parabel of the Talents, where the master gives out talents (money) to his servants, leaves and upon his return, learns that 2 of them did nothing with their talent, but one of them invested and grew the talent. The moral of the story is that if you have talents (money or not money), you will be rewarded by sharing them with others. Sort of like my Dad.

My Dad was a non-practicing Lutheran and my Mom was a devout Catholic. At the time they got married this caused some stress but ultimately my Mom believed that God wanted them together. When I asked how she managed with Dad’s indifference to religion, she told me Dad was one of the more religious people she knew, always offering up his talents to help.

And he passed that on to his kids, including me. Religion for me has to have feet. How can I share my talents to make someone else’s life better. And my wife Karen and I have passed that on to our kids. What a legacy.

We’ve spent some time on this pilgrimage talking about helping others. Did the work my Dad did bring him closer to God? My Mom sure thought so and so do I.

Thanks Dad. We will always miss you in our lives.

Fred