Chapter 26
Life is pretty crazy. At this time of year, parents-of-the-world are running around with end of year school plans and trying to “hold it together” to get their kids off to all of their activities, graduations, parties… you name it! If you are a parent, then you know what I am talking about. For me, I am not a stranger to this as the madness has descended upon our house where my two youngest are leaving the sixth grade and graduating from elementary school in a few weeks. The countdown has begun. They are excited and nervous at the same time for their next step. As their dad, I share their jubilation with them because I am conquering my own balancing act as a first year teacher and all the family commitments that tag teams it as their wrestling partner.
This weekend was an anomaly because there were no youth sports games (the seasons just ended last weekend), no holidays to prepare the house for, or anything of the such. Yippee!!!… a weekend to catch up on much needed rest. For the first time all year, I got to sleep past 5:55am in the morning, and got to walk around in lounge clothes for most of the day. I love to cook, so I started up the barbeque to cook some chicken. My two little ones, my graduating sixth graders, were upstairs playing video games. The wife was at work. Since it is Saturday, and no one was around to get the mail, I decided to grab that community mailbox key and head across the street.
As I am digging through our mail, (I hardly ever go to the mailbox because I am never home and it is magically inside the house when I come home from work daily… Those “mail elves” sure do a great job with home delivery!) I bump into my neighbor walking his dog. Let me tell you about this neighbor. Have you ever seen in movies or tv shows that one neighbor that is the most amazingly kind and generous person? I know a lot of the time neighbors are considered annoying and pesky, but this is not the case with mine. He and his family are an absolute dream to have. He loves his animals as it is apparent that he is committed to walking his best friend around the block whenever I see him. As he passes, he always has something uplifting and positive to say. He is encouraging and engaging with stories of his family and relates it back to you and your life in the conversation. I really wish every person is as lucky as I am to have them live just two doors down. As I pulled my arm back from the bottomless abyss that I call a mailbox, he kind of startled me as I wasn’t expecting anyone near me. But there he was with his doggie buddy.
Normally he always tells me a joke and he always starts off the conversation with a surprise, so when he told me he had bad news, I wasn’t really expecting bad news. He told me his son had died just a few days ago. I was taken back. He started pouring into me and telling me the details and I stood there in shock. I couldn’t believe it. His son had just recovered from being sick for a bit and got a clean bill of health from the doctor. When he was sick, my neighbors took care of him at their home. He was 41 and was so excited to get into the real world and get after it. He was looking forward to it. He was highly educated, wrote books, and was super positive like his dad. He hit a roadblock when he got sick and wanted to be a history teacher like me, and it was something we shared in common. As I stood there in absolute shock listening to my neighbor tell me about his final days, as a father, my heart collapsed. Their son had made a plan to move to Iowa after he recovered because he thought it was beautiful and had an affinity for Field of Dreams. So the family supported it. In late April (just three weeks ago), after the doctor cleared him, plans for his big step in life came to fruition. He packed his stuff up from his parents’ house and he moved to Iowa. He had to get a retail job to tie him over until he got his teaching squared away. Just this last Sunday on Mother’s Day, he called home and showed off his apartment with just a blowup bed and pillow on Facetime. He was waiting for his stuff in storage to come. He was so proud, my neighbor said. On Thursday, my neighbor got a phone call from Iowa. It was his son’s boss and told him he had not shown up to work in two days. It was something a parent never wants to hear.
I was just standing there with no words and asked if I could give him a big hug. He agreed. Two grown men standing there on the sidewalk giving a huge hug to each other. I felt horrible. I could not even imagine the pain he is going through and you know what he does next??? This man turned the conversation as he has always done and applied to me. To me. He started talking about God’s mysterious and confusing ways, and how we don’t always understand his purpose – but WE ARE TO WALK BY FAITH. He started praying for me and my family and with no further concern of his own. I felt shattered. I am not worthy of this. Here is a man that just lost his son and prays for me… I am not worthy.
In his magnificence, God uses and bends things to his will and his ways to show each one of us his purpose. He loves us all and I cannot even begin to understand the deep reality of this. What I do know is that I am not worthy. My neighbor talked to me about life’s purpose and how it is to be fulfilled. We all have questions and thoughts… Why? How come? For what purpose? In my house, we are pretty spiritual people and try our best even when we mess up, we know we are still loved, forgiven, and wanted. But I have to tell you… this little conversation rocked me to my core. My neighbor wondered what purpose his son may have served in God’s Kingdom. I felt called to share, because at minimum if his life was destined to have this conversation with me, it will be one that will affect me even further and hopefully it will help serve others I come into contact with in my lifetime to share His Glory.
If I could leave you with any advice today, be thankful. Be appreciative. Don’t stress so much. Forgive. And then Forgive again, because we are not perfect. Love and be willing to share kindness to others for nothing except to bless others’ lives. Be selfless, not selfish. We all can be selfish at times, and I am guilty of that more than I want to admit. Our lives are full of experiences that make us who we are. We learn, we grow, we become enlightened. What we do with these experiences is part of who we are designed to be. Some experiences may not carry the weight as others, and maybe the really important ones aren’t a huge spectacle, like a little conversation like today, but they are just as powerful. Some of these experiences we may not be able to comprehend until we get more experiences that explain their meanings. Like I said at the beginning, life is pretty crazy. This little lazy Saturday afternoon conversation with my neighbor, in a moment when it wasn’t expected, will forever change me. When my friend is at their weakest moment in their life, he prays for me instead…
For David.
To find out what happens next… Subscribe to my blog here for the next chapter. Follow me on all my platforms for more #Inspiration – Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, SoundCloud, and Youtube.
Written By Chris Hulme ( aka – Coach Hulme ) #CoachHulme #ChrisHulme #TheHulme
Share with someone who may need the Inspiration…
#inspiration #leadership #faith #hope #success #life #coach #hulme #motivation #motivationalthoughts #motivationalquotes #inspo #positivity #success #inspirational #motivational #inspirationalquotes #inspirationalblog #blog #teacher #teachers #mindset #dailymotivation #encouraging #blessed #purposedriven #transformation #spiritual #selfhelp #selfhelpblog #christianity #jesus #God #peace #happiness #kindness #education #educational #positive #positivethoughts #psychology #coachhulme #chrishulme #fatherhood #parenting #coaching #love #family
Coach Hulme 