Fruit of the Spirit

It's been a rough month for our family.

2 weeks ago my father in law passed away. Totally unexpectedly & much, much too soon.

Technically, he was my step father in law, but we'll talk more about that in a minute.

Rick was an amazing man. A kind man. A very fun man.

He had all of these silly sayings he always used. He called all the kids "big boy" & threatened to "scob their knob". He did it too.

And he is the only person I have ever heard call my husband "Bubba".  And he did it ALL the time.

He loved family. He loved his kids & his grand kids.

And we loved him back. More I think, than some of us realized.

I've done much reflecting these past weeks as often happens in these times.

One thing I keep coming back to is what the Word says about the fruit of the Spirit...

Galations 5:22&23 says:

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.

Rick is personified in these verses I think.

The Bible talks about knowing people by "their fruit" meaning if they have planted seeds of love & kindness through out their life that will show.

Someone who has spent a life sowing strife & unhappiness will not leave the same legacy as someone who sowed love.

Rick was "just" a stepdad to us in the eyes of the world but to us he was much more.

We both lost our dads a few years back & it was a sad time. We both felt the loss but, sadly, neither of us had been close to our dads for many years.

We hadn't had that special, loving relationship that we should have had so our losses were more remote. The sting was not so close.

Not so with losing Rick.

We have both cried more & harder tears over Rick.

He sowed more love into us & he didn't have to.

He sowed more love into our children & he didn't have to.

He had his "own" children & his "own" grandchildren but he never once made that differentiation.

He never once made us feel like we weren't his.

At his service story after story was told of his love for people. Of the fruit he sowed over his lifetime.

He was an ordinary man who lived an extraordinary life.

He was a son, a brother, a soldier, a husband, a father, a grandfather & a friend. 

And he will be sorely missed.

Blessings.