For Grandpa

I've spent the last few days sitting with my grandfather while he experiences the end of his time on this Earth. 

Rather than air out all the details of a very private and dignified ending to a natural life, I'd rather share a bit of my thought processes over the past week or so. Because this life was too well lived to give death any glory in this moment. 

He taught me that family is important, not because he sat with me often and talked about it. He taught me because he showed me. There has never been a time in my memory that I was not important to him. Over a distance of 2000 miles he maintained contact better than anyone could have expected. And he encouraged and inspired all those he loved. As diverse as our family is, he loved us all and we were all better for having known him. 

He taught me that heritage is important. It wasn't just because he shared family history with me but because he showed such interest in the family's future, showing true concern the interests and personalities of his children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. He showed me by the way he shared with us the family trade, with a running history almost a century old.

He showed me that faith is important, not because he had some flashy, overdone religious performance, but because he lived a true life of faith that reflected in the way he approached the world and all things in it. 

This list could continue. But I can shorten it by saying he taught me "do". With his enormous personality and sense of humor he could have been about a great show. But the things I've learned from him weren't from speeches or soliloquies. They were actions.

And so the blessing I have gotten this week has been to do. It has come from made opportunities to do things for Grandpa that were important to him. They have been things that I have taken joy from knowing they are for a man that did so very much for me. 

And now there are lessons for my sons and their children. The message of do, not just say, that will put Grandpa in the same position as Abel in Hebrews 11:4 in that a testimony of action means though he'll be dead, he'll still speak messages of family, heritage, faith, and more.

I'm humbled by the grief and goodness of this experience. I'm sad that I'm losing him, thankful to have had him, and confident that his legacy will far outlive him because of the actions of those who loved him and learned from his example.