“The River is Here”
The Revelation to John 22:1-7
Dave Weesner: Sermon Preached Salem UMC - Oct 14, 2007
My Dear Addi,
As I held you last Wednesday, just hours after you breathed your first breath, I decided then to share my heart with you through a letter; this letter. I plan to be around for many years to watch you grow into a beautiful young woman, full of love and yes, grace, just like your name.
However, these thoughts I share with you are important, and I do not want miss any opportunity to offer these gifts that I have learned throughout my lifetime. Like wading into the water of a flowing river these ideas will gain power for your life as you learn to trust the current and move further into the flow, finally finding yourself swimming without touching the bottom. Here Goes:
Obey Your Parents
They are the people who love you more than anyone on earth. I have known them for quite a while, and they can be trusted, especially where your well-being is concerned. They have and are sacrificing for you. Did you know you will cost your parents about a quarter of a million dollars to raise? They will not withhold one good thing from you that they believe you really need. Truth is, you will never know the extent of their sacrifice, but you will know their love. That is all I can ask.
So, Obey Your Parents
Honor Your Brother and Your Sister
Today, when I was with you, they would not stop kissing you. And they kissed you with such tenderness and concern, I was surprised at first and then moved to try and understand their love for you even at this young age. You see, you have done nothing for them, except give them someone to love. Maybe that is the best we can ever do in life, give ourselves to someone else openly and honestly, so they can love us. I think that is what God wants from us. So, Honor Your Brother and Your Sister
Do Not Whine
No person anywhere likes someone who whines. Whining ruins good friendships and is wearisome to God. A good rule to live by is: “Never Complain About What You Allow.” If you do not like something, change it. At the very least, do not put up with it and whine about it, as if you have no power to make change. You are a child of God and are able to accomplish far more than you can imagine. Nothing of value will ever be accomplished in your life by whining. So, Do Not Whine.
A Good Attitude Changes Everything
Smile every morning, be cheerful and greet those around you with joy and interest. Refresh your soul with a positive focus on everything that moves through your life. If you can practice this one little step of cheerfulness, you will live a life blessed with friends and good will.
The measure you give will be the measure you get in return. Yes, there will be days of pain and grief. You will lament many things over your lifetime, however the good, will far out weigh the bad, and you will find the world filled with wonderment; if only you will choose to smile and offer a cheerful greeting. It really is just that simple. So, Carry a Good Attitude, it Changes Everything.
Choose to Make a Difference in Another Persons Life
The saddest life is one lived for the self. Work to make a difference in another persons life and you will find fulfillment. This is the second great commandment from Jesus, “To love your neighbor as yourself.” It is not enough to have things and work to make a way in the world for ourselves. The real meaning of life is offered when we sacrifice for another so that their lives may be blessed. You will never find one truly great person in your whole life who did not sacrifice to make a difference in another persons life. Not One.
So, Choose to Make a Difference in Another Person’s Life.
Keep your mouth in your mind, not your mind in your mouth
Many people rattle on with words about nothing. Whatever is in their mind is in the same moment in their mouth and past their lips. They never consider a word before they speak, and in all honesty, they are thought of as fools. Rather, keep your mouth in your mind and consider your words before you speak. Do your words lift and inspire others, or do they tear down and degrade another? Do your words build unity or do they wound and separate? How you speak is just as important as what you speak. Measure your words carefully. Speak truth in all humbleness. So, Make your father proud, and your grandfathers smile, keep your mouth in your mind, not your mind in your mouth.
There is Enough Love for You
As the third child, sometimes you will feel as if you are left behind and maybe there is not enough love for you. Do not trust and believe these feelings. Love has no boundaries, like a river flowing which has no end. Trust me, you are loved regardless of what your sister and brother say or do. There is enough love for you.
Love God with All Your Heart, Mind, and Strength
Loving God is the key to a wonder-filled life. If you want to see miracles, love God. If you want to find blessing upon blessing, love God.
This is hard to do. We are all human with a wildness that wants to turn away from God. (Actually, we want to be God, and try to make our selves into God. But it never works.) We must learn to love God with all our heart. We choose to love God with our feelings, our heart. Much like we choose to love ice cream. Pretty soon it is not only what we like, but we crave God in our lives.
We must learn to love God with our mind. This means we need to study and learn all we can about ourselves and this mysterious God who created you and me. The more we learn the more we will love God and each other.
And we must learn to love God with our strength. It is hard to love God when the day is filled with pain or grief. And yet, that is probably the very day we will find God waiting to offer us our greatest insight or deepest season of peace. Be strong and learn to love God always.
Here is the other part of this same lesson. As you grow, you will need tore-consider your relationship with God. They way you love God you are five or seven or thirteen will not be the way you should love God when you are thirty or fifty. As you grow, so should your love of God and you will need to go deeper in your faith as you grow older. I see folks all the time who have quit growing in their faith. Many quit as a child, they still attend church, but they have not grown for years. This second part is as important as the fist or else you will end up hard and thorny like the stem of a rose branch that once held a glorious blossom.
There are so many things we will visit about as your life unfolds, these are just a little sample. Yet they are foundations, rocks along the river on which to warm yourself on a sunny autumn afternoon.
As you learn to accomplish these things, my child, you will learn to live fully and live well. You will find friends at every turn on days of sunshine and grace to fill your stormy days. You will learn to swim in the river of life and not just stand sadly on the river bank, never trusting enough to enter the water, never faithful enough to swim as the current begins to move your life forward. Live fully, live well.
One final request: Plan to meet me in heaven.
All your grandparents, Grandpa Kurt and Grandma Terri Jo, Grandma Cheryl and myself, have all made plans with Jesus to be present in His heavenly kingdom, and we want you to join us. We cannot make it happen for you, even as much as we would like. But we know you will get to choose, just like we have. And we want you to choose life and join us, just as we have chosen to join our parents and grandparents who have accepted Jesus Christ, and so it has gone for over 2000 years. And we want you to join us someday in that wonderful place.
Read aloud the first few verses of chapter 22 of The Revelation to John from the Bible. Consider how we can wade into the water of the river of life and let ourselves be carried by the current of the Spirit. Do not be afraid. The river is here and before you, even as you hear or read my words.
By faith, I am already there, even as I am still physically with you now. This is the mystery of God and the blessing of God’s grace. And that is the second name your parents have chosen for you; Grace it is, so Grace you will be.
Until I hold you again, Grandpa Dave.
