Photographs have the power to transport us.
Recently, my editor/artist colleague, HJ McEnroe, posted a seemingly innocuous photograph of a recent sunset in north Texas. Immediately, I was transported more than fifty years into the past…reminded of my father. The memory was deeply rooted, and the words he spoke to me one evening at sunset – gazing into the western horizon – compelled me to hear his voice…a voice I haven’t heard now for nearly twenty-five years.
It was late spring that year, too. The thumb area of Michigan features many pastoral settings that lure the poet in me to seek a higher love.
One particular evening, after a long day of gardening and yard work, he and I were bagging up refuse when the western sun peered through severing clouds, painting the golden canvas with an array of deep hues. I paused, turned and gazed into that sky with absolute awe. Finding it achingly beautiful, I gasped, “Dad…check that out!”
My father glanced toward the west, did a double-take, and stood upright, as if gazing into the face of God. For long moments, neither of us said a word…just staring, dumbstruck by the beauty of it all.
Finally, he looked at me, smiled in his understated manner, and said “Quite a masterpiece.”
We went back about our work, but I saw him steal another glance, and another…finally, standing tall, leaning on his rake handle, and just drinking it in – the profound impact by which the laws of this universe are governed to make such breathless beauty possible. I know this, because I, too, was drinking it in. It was…intoxicating. It felt like our souls were connected as we just admired the lingering, languishing beauty of another sunset.
Of course, I’ve witnessed many sunsets since that evening in early June, 1973. Yet it requires but one photograph, alike in nearly every respect with my recollection of that long-ago evening, to bring the memories spilling back, awash in the tears with which I miss him.
To fathers everywhere, I wish you such joyful memories with your children. We are all part of a grand design. Though your time with them is the briefest of candles, it is impactful, one way or another. Choose to be a light for your children, that they, too, may see the “Masterpiece” of God’s work…through your eyes.
HAPPY FATHER’S DAY!! Peace. Shalom.