My Father Who Is In Heaven

My father who is in heaven,

I sure do miss you like hell.

I’ve got friends who pray to

Mary the mother of God.

You were a close friend of God,

one of the true-bluest I knew, so

I’m betting if it works with Mary

then it’s got to work with you too.

Yes, you know some would take issue

with this, that such prayer siphons

off glory earmarked for God as if

God is a car and glory is God’s gas,

as if God’s low fuel light might

come on and God might get nervous…

 

Mom misses you like crazy. I believe

you miss her too although I don’t

understand how grief works in heaven.

Some would insist there’s no grief

there, but I’ve wondered about that lately.

Maybe it’s not contaminated like it is

down here. Maybe grief where you are

is pure, and as such burns cleaner and

brighter, more efficient. Maybe.

 

I love you, Dad. Talk to you soon.

Amen.

 

 

 

 

 

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15 Comments

  1. Teresa Thornburgh on May 31, 2021 at 11:22 am

    Heart-wrenchingly beautiful!

  2. Annie B on May 31, 2021 at 12:06 pm

    ?

  3. Diana Trautwein on May 31, 2021 at 12:07 pm

    Oh, my, this feels familiar. Yeah, God ain’t no new car – and talking/praying with Saints in no way siphons off a blasted thing. Keep working/thinking/processing out loud, okay? All of it is enormous gift. Thank you.

    • Nancymariedavis on June 1, 2021 at 10:23 am

      Maybe I will meet him some end of time as we know it.

  4. alice scott-ferguson on May 31, 2021 at 12:23 pm

    This sentiment soars in my spirit! One of the poems in my new book is in honor of the Virgin Mary! As a fierce daughter of the Reformation, I mostly ignored her in my previous religious life, but following my widowhood, and I met and married a Catholic gentleman, I began to reflect on her role as viewed in his heritage. I cite the changing of the water into wine as pretty persuasive evidence that Jesus listens to his “mama”!!

  5. Gwen Acres on May 31, 2021 at 12:32 pm

    Words that speak to me. Faith that functions. Love that I can hang on to.
    Thank you for making it real, John.

  6. Michele Morin on May 31, 2021 at 2:14 pm

    Whatever story ends up being true about our life after death, I am certain it’s not as simple as we’ve over-simplified it to be, and I appreciate your thoughts.

  7. Marsha Hall on May 31, 2021 at 3:06 pm

    Beautiful words spoken from a torn and broken heart. ❤️??

  8. Chuck Cook on May 31, 2021 at 3:56 pm

    I love you John – you’re a good man! Runs in the family!

  9. Roslyn Bourgeois on May 31, 2021 at 4:24 pm

    Thanks John

  10. JUDY BURKE on May 31, 2021 at 4:29 pm

    Your words are what so many others feel about your Grief and theirs – Your Dad did my Mom and Dad’s funeral Anna and he were such a blessing and I too speak to them daily and miss them with rejoicing I can still have memories and a promise that we will all be together forever someday – And my someday can not come soon enough. God bless all of you and continue your feelings please!

  11. Jim Guffy on May 31, 2021 at 4:51 pm

    May God have mercy on Brother David…as I knew him…I feel your pain…he married us almost 27 years ago…kindest a soul I ever met on this earth…

  12. Gretchen on May 31, 2021 at 5:53 pm

    I’m so sorry. It’s just so hard.

  13. Abby on May 31, 2021 at 6:27 pm

    Wow. I don’t have words to express the emotion this evokes. I admit, my relationship with my own dad is complicated, thus the lack of adequate words – their spectrum is long and wide. I am sitting here with you in Spirit, holding you and your family close and loose. It is a deep, deep privilege to bear witness to the road you currently travel.

  14. Pete Bellisano on August 11, 2021 at 12:50 pm

    My father has been gone for many, many years. Yet reading this brought me to tears. The “missing” never goes away. Thank you for these touching thoughts.

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