| Well, its not the 24th but its the day before thanksgiving. Yep, its that time of year again and I've spent the day thinking, on and off , about my dad. I miss you dad. Fathers teach their children many things, both directly and indirectly. I think, perhaps, that the things they teach indirectly (just by the way they live their lives) or ( by example) are the most profound. So now I sit, pondering the things my Dad taught me. Of course, being who I am, I can't help considering these thoughts in a biblical context...............so here we go.................. When Solomon became King over Israel he was still qutie young, and God appeared to him in a dream and told Solomon to ask for whatever he wanted. So Solomon, in 1Kings 3:7-9, ask's God for wisdom. Our Heavenly Father was pleased with this request and agrees to give Solomon a "wise and discerning heart" so that he will become the wisest man who ever, or will ever live on this earth. Now my Dad on the other hand was not the most educated person on the planet. Growing up during the depression, he dropped out of school at the age of 14 to go to work on an ice truck, in order to help support the family. His mom, dad, sister, and 3 foster children his parents had taken in. Years later, while working at the Ford Motor Co. he took a corespondance course to earn his GED, in order to better himself and become eligable for advancement at Ford. He went on to become General Superviser of the chasis department with 3 foreman and about 100 men woking under him. The fact is that if it wasn't for a political screwing he recieved from a (supposedly) close friend of his, he would of went on to become the Plant Manager. I remember also the time when I was about 10 when he redesigned a proposal for a new tire and rim assembly line at the plant. His redesign of the engineer and architects proposal saved the company so much money that he was awarded about 8000 dollars toward the purchase of a new car. He bought a banana yellow Mavrick with a black vinyl roof and pretty much every option you could put in it. If I remember correctly, after taxes and destination charges, the car ended up costing him 7 dollars. So much for all those college degrees that woked on the original proposal. Ah, but I digress. While I am quite impressed by these exploits they are not what have shaped the man i am today. So back to Solomon I go. Now I don't happen to think that when God granted Solomon his request it was like "poof" you are now filled with all wisdom. Instead, I believe he gave Solomon the ability to become the wisest man who ever lived. Therefore, as he grew older and experianced life he continued to grow in wisdom every day until his death. Solomon went on to be a prolific writer. He wrote many of the Pslams, most of the book of Proverbs (my fav.), Ecclisiastes, and the Song of Songs. Based upon my own reading, I believe that the book of Ecclisiastes was written near the end of Solomons life. For in it he recounts many of his own exploits. Following this line of reason, one would have to assume that he was at or near his wisest when he wrote this book. Thus said, I arrive at a verse which hammered its way into my heart many years ago, when I first read it. Ecc. 2:24 "A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work. This too, I see, is from the hand of God". And the pendulum swings back. Dad as I said worked for Ford, 30 years before retiring in his early fiftys on disability. He always took great pride in the products which he helped to produce and was probably Ford's most avid walking comercial which the company has or will ever see. I truly believe that my Dad found great satisfaction in his work. Now, lets just say that Dad was't exactly a small man, and certainly, no one that shared a meal with him could acuse him of not enjoying himself. Yep, Dad loved to eat. Somewhere, in some dusty corner of some dusty box at my mothers house there is a picture of my Dad, sitting at our kitchen table in S.Plfd., gnawing on the bone of a huge leg of lamb. The glint in his eye saying it all (Fred Flintstone never had it this good!). But I think my Dads favorite meal was meatloaf. Now with all the great things there are to eat in this world, there was a time when I didn't quite understand this, but I think I figured it out several years ago. You see, when my Dad was growing up they could only afford to eat meat once a week. They would have pasta three or four times a week, and on Sunday they would have pasta with meat in the gravy. So on Sunday's he would get a few meatballs and maybe some sausage with his pasta. With this in mind I believe that when he got married and was making enough money to actually be able to buy 2 pounds of chop meat and enjoy a meal consisting of this whole huge loaf of meat......well, to my Dad this must of been what it was like to live like a king. This ability which he had, to so thoroughly enjoy such simply fair, permeated my Dads whole life. It was this attitude which helped him to be so affable, whatever his current circumstance's were. And on to the drinking we go. To enjoy a drink can mean many things. A cold glass of water on a hot day. A glass of home made zinfindel with dinner. Scotch on the rocks while spending time with friends. So........just as my Mom still is, my Dad was a very sociable and gregarious fellow, who enjoyed having partys and spending time with friends. To this end we of course had a bar in my parents rec room when I was growing up. Between that and the pool in the yard my parents threw many partys over the years. Both summer and winter, indoors and out. I remember picnics with the ladys trying every cordial under the bar, and New Years partys with upwards of 20 people sleeping over. I remember my Dad sitting at the bar with our parish priest, the two of them drinking scotch and trading off color jokes. Yes, my Dad enjoyed the refrshment found in a good drink. Be it a scotch or the mornings coffee. And so we swing back again. Ecc. 2:24 "A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work. This too, I see, is from the hand of God." Now, not only do I find it interesting that Solomon even wrote this, but he wrote it near the end of his life, when his wisdom was at its greatest. Not only that, but this same verse, with only very slight variations, appears in the book of Ecc. not less than 6 times. Thats right, in only 12 short chapters, King Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived chose to repeat this verse 6 times. It seems an understatement to say that he obviously felt this was an important point to get across. And as we swing back we find ourselves somewhere in the middle. A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work. Yep, that was my Dad. Whether it was a good days work, a simple meal, or sharing a drink with a friend, my Dad enjoyed the life that he was given. This may be the most profound thing my Dad taught me. He taught it to me everyday, in the simple example of the way he lived and enjoyed his own life, and in the life he created for his family. This, I finally figured out, is why that verse so firmly wormed its way into my heart from the first moment I read it. It was because it was something that deep down I already knew, because my Daddy had already taught it to me without me even knowing. The Wisdom of Solomon, taught to me by my Dad, the high school dropout. God Bless |
