Dear Mom And Dad

The following letter is written by someone who wishes to remain anonymous. The letter is accompanied by a question from the letter's author.

Dear Pastor,

I want to know if people who have died know anything about what happens here on earth. I know it sounds stranger, but I wrote this letter to my deceased parents. I want to know if they know how much I love them and miss them. Do they know about my life in the here and now?

Thank you.

Name withheld by request.

Pastor's Answer:

Dear (Name withheld),

The ways of heaven are mysterious. However, the ways of love are not mysterious. It is my belief the love we have for persons who have gone home to be with the Lord resounds in heaven in ways we cannot imagine. The joy in heaven is so deep and so profound the joy erases all the pain of our former life on earth. Yet, the destiny of those who put their life and trust in the Lord is guided by heaven. The joy and love we have for others while we are alive upon the earth makes angels sing. Do the inhabitants of heaven hear the angels sing? Absolutely!!!

In Christ's Love And Grace,

Rev. Patrick Kelly

Here is the letter. My comments are at the end of this article.

Dear Mom and Dad,

It has been so long since I saw you. You both have been gone over thirty years. A part of me left when you both died.

I've had a tough day. It was a day full of disappointment, the kind of day where I would like to go home to be with both of you. But I have a family of my own now. I have a wife and children. They were not on the horizon when you were both alive. You would be so incredibly proud of your grandchildren. Your grandchildren have incredible talent. They are devout Christians and live out their faith in all they say, think, and do.

My life has not turned out the way I wanted. I wanted business success and wealth but I was not able to achieve those dreams. However, my life has been a success for God. Being a success for God is better than being a business success but it is hard for me to let the old business and secular dreams die.

I've had a life of pain and suffering with the disappointments and failure produced by pain and suffering. The pain and suffering were not of my doing but eventually I tried to turn the pain and suffering into a thing for God's glory.

I have regrets. I made all kinds of mistakes because of the pain I was in. Of course, it is easy to look back. It is easy to play the game on Monday morning. However, now I understand why I made the mistakes. I still wish I could go back and do things over. Of all the regrets I have, I regret remaining silent when you needed someone to say something more kind and understanding. Especially with you, dad, there were so many times I could have said something more understanding and more comforting when you were sick and dieing. However, we were all silent when it came to matters of the heart. Yet, I regret so deeply what I did not say. Somehow, some way, I ask God to let you both know.

Although I did not achieve my business dreams, my wife and I have had a peaceful marriage. Neither of us is perfect but we accept our imperfections. We both pray and have faith in God. What a resource He has been for us.

I just wanted you both to know I am OK and things are OK. There have been times when my trials were so deep I thought I would drown, but God helped me survive. Perhaps in two or three decades, if God will give me more years here on earth, I will eventually see you both again. It will be good to sit around the kitchen table and eat some of that old home cooking. It will be good to see grandma and grandpa on both sides. It will be so good to see all my aunts and uncles who are with you now. All the people of your generation and the generation before you with whom I grew up are gone now except for Aunt T. I miss them. I miss them all. G.B.'s family is also gone. Both generations have left this earth. He is having a hard time being the oldest generation and being without his family.

When my days get tough as many of them now tend to do, I want to go back and stand by the lake where we used to live. It was such a peaceful place. It was such a beautiful place. But I know you live in a more beautiful place than by the lake. Dad used to call the old home place heaven on earth. But where you live, really IS heaven and you don't have the stinking pain of earth to live with either.

I keep hearing the echoes of your voices. I keep seeing the flashes of your smiles. I suppose these things happen when trials come when you get older. Of course I have flashes of some of the bad times I had but the good time flashes always outweigh the bad. There were so many good times intermingled with the bad. Thanks to both of you there were good times. Thanks to both of you I have remained aggressive against all odds. Thanks to both of you I am going to keep going until God calls me home.

I praise God for He enables me to live in peace. I've had a few moments of selfishness. Horrible, horrible, horrible beyond words were those moments of selfishness. But those moments were only a few. For the most part, I've had peace without the kind of turmoil and anguish that chews up a person's soul. God is so good. Jesus is so kind. I feel His presence just about every day. Here recently I feel His love wrapping around me continually. His love is like the layers of an onion wrapping, wrapping, wrapping around me without stopping. I did not know it for many years, but He was always with me. I did not know it, but He always had His hand upon my shoulder.

Thank you for giving me a church foundation as a youngster. I pray for all the people at our home church. Most of the people of your generation are gone now and their children and the generation after make up the congregation. The people of the past and the people of the present at our home church have no idea how much I love them.

I had a vision of both of you about a year ago, maybe less. You were both young, younger than I ever remember you being. You were young, healthy, and happy. You were both beaming with joy.

I pray everyday and remember both of you in my prayer time. What a blessing my life at home turned out to be, even if it did not seem so at the time. I've learned to count my blessings the older I get and the more pain I have to carry. It is truly amazing how counting my blessings turns all the darkness into light and all the pain into joy, even if for just a brief moment.

We all have a great future together.

I love you,

(Name withheld)

Pastor's Comment: What is not important is the sentimentality. What is definitely important is the counting of the blessings noted in the letter.

This article is presented as fiction. The article first appeared in April, 2008, in the Virtual Church web site at http://www.shepherdscare.net

Any resemblance of the persons or characters in this article to persons living or dead is purely coincidental.