Reality Check: Thoughts on Dying, Living and the stuff in the middle

I discovered today that J. D. Salinger passed away. Very sad. Not that we were buddies or close or even knew one another. But when an artist or author or public figure dies, it’s hard for us not to feel some attachment.

We associate with the works of people. Be it a building (think: Frank Lloyd Wright) or a car (Henry Ford) or a painting (Norman Rockwell) or a song (Michael Jackson). Or in this case, a book. We transfer our own life into that thing, whatever it is, and because we become a part of it, we feel close, even connected in some way, to its creator.

Catcher In the Rye was one of those timeless works (and actually one of my own favorites) that spoke personally to generations of people, young and old. Of course, Lee Harvey Oswald owning a copy and the ensuing assassination of President John F. Kennedy, did no harm to the book’s popularity.

But we identified with Salinger, maybe only in some tiny part. And we wonder what makes his work so influential, so powerful, so compelling. We think on him. We read him. We feel like we must have similarities. And we mourn him now. It’s a poignant loss, even though he was in his nineties.

I remember very well when my mother passed away. Not too very long ago. Funny how certain memories can be crystal clear, but at the same time, almost foggy. We were “expecting” her passing at some point, but nothing really prepares you fully for that.

I remember standing alone in the funeral parlor, looking at my mother lying there in her casket, and thinking about all the things I didn’t say. All the presents I forgot to give. All the visits I put off til later. All the conversations I should’ve lingered in. All the hugs I thought were trivial.

There’s nothing like death to make you think about life. There’s nothing like the sudden void that death leaves, to remind the living of how trivial this life can be at times.

But in her death, I also found a new focus. A new outlook. A different point of view and a fresh beginning. In some way, her death was part of God’s gift of continuing life. Even though we mourn the loss of someone, in their passing, God reminds us of our own mortality.

He shows us our past and reminds us of our once-optimistic gaze into our future. We feel a new start. A new foothold on things. And we tuck our old thoughts and memories and associations away into our pockets, dry our eyes and take a deep breath, and look out to the horizon, thinking about how much better things are going to be.

Today’s Scripture: Psalm 27:4 - One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple.

Today’s Prayer: Father, as I go through this day and as I think on the subjects of death and loss, please help me to remember the greatest gift I have is the life that You’ve given me. And please help me to seek You and Your beauty, everyday.

Last Thoughts:

When someone dies, we don’t have to die (emotionally or spiritually) with them. Remember that life is beautiful and we’re blessed to live it.

When Christ died, his followers were in shambles. But through His death, they soon found encouragement and strength to do amazing things. Look ahead!

When celebrities die, we mourn them as if they were close friends. THINK ABOUT IT: Who (celebrity or public figure) do you identify with most closely? Why? And could you seek out better influences?

Refrigerator Faith

I walked into the kitchen this morning and saw a note my wife, Cretia had written and stuck on the fridge. It was about, interestingly enough, all the things on our refrigerator. What was there. What it all means to us.

Why did she write it? I have no idea. Some devotional exercise, maybe. But nevertheless, I believe the Holy Spirit used her and that simple note to teach me something very profound.

Most of us like to think we can tell a lot about someone by the things stuck on their fridge. And maybe so.

On ours, we happen to have some pictures, drawings from the kids, recipes, newspaper clippings, a notepad, coupons, a chore list for Emma, lots of little magnets, lady bugs, dragonflies, princesses. And these are all things that for the most part, we use or look to, almost daily. Some have a deep emotional attachment and some are just stuck up there. I don’t exactly know why.

Now what does that say about us?

We have friends whose refrigerators don’t have a thing on them. Nothing. They have kids. Pets. Jobs. Lives. But nothing on the fridge. Why is that?

I’m not sure. I’m just asking.

Then we have other friends who have a metric ton of junk and 325,000 apple, banana, Sponge Bob and insurance company magnets stuck all over theirs.

What does that mean?

Again, I don’t know. But probably not as much as we’d like to believe it does.

Still, if you walk into someone’s home, let’s agree that most of us believe you really can tell what’s important to a family by what they have on the ice box. That the front of the refrigerator is a snapshot of “where their treasure lies”.

For example, when I see our friends who have the bare fridge, it doesn’t mean that they’re boring or that they don’t do anything. As a matter of fact, they’re exactly the opposite. But that might be the impression you get when you see the fridge…if you didn’t know them and if you believe in the whole refrigerator-mirrors-your-treasure theory.

Take our other friends who have the cluttered fridge. The fact that their refrigerator door is cluttered doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re messy. Actually they aren’t at all. But people would probably think that, if that’s all they knew about them.

What does all this mean? Well, at the end of it all, it made me start to think in general, about how something looks on the outside and what those appearances makes people think. Real or imagined. And specifically, how that relates to our walk with God.

There are a lot of analogies we could use there. But what I want to focus on is what I like to call “refrigerator faith”. I think refrigerator faith is a pretty good mirror for what Jesus says to us in Matthew 5:16.

He says, “In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.”

If your life was available for the world to see, like the front of a refrigerator, what would people think when they saw it? Would they see Jesus? What would others see about you? What would your refrigerator say to the world?

Better yet, what do you want it to say?

Father, as I go through my day today, help me to arrange the front of my own “refrigerator” so that when people look at my life, they get a sense of my faith in You, my love for You. Let people see what’s important to me. And please let that be, You. In Christ, Amen.