Dear friends,
Almost every day, someone asks me, “How are you doing?” It’s a simple enough question, yet a simple
answer seems to elude me. How am I
doing...really? Most days, I answer,
“I’m doing well, thank you.” It’s a
sincere answer, but an incomplete answer.
I’m doing well, but there’s the constant awareness that life is quite
different now...that my former responsibilities and commitments as a husband
have ended. Thus, there is a certain
weight of finality to which I’m still adjusting.
This time of personal transition includes my return to the ebb and
flow of pastoral ministry, the continuation of my book-writing, “Tears &
Triumph: A Journey Toward Resurrection,” my involvement in the November 3
worship at Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Cedar Falls, Iowa, in celebration of
their 40th anniversary, and the counting of Naomi among the
recently-departed Saints for whom candles were lit on All Saints Sunday.
This coming Thanksgiving marks the two-year anniversary of Naomi’s
moving out of our house and becoming a full-time resident at Anam Glen in
Rockford. This was the most devastating
transition of my life, learning to accept the unwelcome solitude of an empty
house. But I survived the crushing
loneliness that followed...and I grew in my trust of Jesus to walk beside me
during those excruciating months of transition.
Only now, in retrospect, am I able to comprehend the broad
landscape of my caregiving role the past ten years. Only now, am I beginning to embrace the promised
peace of God that passes all understanding.
Only now, am I gradually becoming aware of the new beginnings God provides
as I trust in the Holy Spirit to strengthen and guide me.
How am I doing? Thanks to
God’s love in Jesus and to God’s love through you, I’m doing very well...really!
Walking this journey of faith with you,
Pastor Mark
