dual personalities

It is the culmination of Holy Week. Good Friday and on to Easter!

But tomorrow is also my father’s birthday.

Amazing to think he was born 104 years ago! He died in his seventieth year and as I am turning 70 in a few weeks, I am feeling reflective.

The older I get, the more I think I am like him and less like my precious mother. We have the same curiosity about certain things, but lack the genius that my siblings inherited from our mother. We have the same weaknesses and insecurities. We are introverts. I find myself driving to the P.O. just to get out of the house like he did. He was a bad example to me in many ways and that has helped me avoid some pitfalls. But then, I never took part in WWII, nor did I have to support a family. I have no idea whether he was a Believer. Is he in heaven? Is he in hell? I cannot say. He never went to church with us, although he was a card-carrying Episcopalian his whole life. But we know that frequently means nothing. He is, in the final analysis, a mystery to me.

I hope I am not a complete mystery to my children. I mean, you never know everything about a person. We all have our secrets. But I think they know me pretty well. And if they have a question, they can ask. Only God knows our true heart. There is no escaping Him.

(And never forget this about ANCIII.)

I went to our Maundy Thursday service last night and it was wonderful. I held it together until two soloists sang this song during communion:

We had our high school cellist accompanying them as well. And here’s a hymn for Good Friday:

Anyway, have a blessed Easter. I pray that all those who go to a service on Sunday for the first time this year will want to return before next Christmas.