Written by May 28, 2021. 6:22 PM. For this very special person, life here on earth ended…Six-twenty-two.
I had just finished listening to the book Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey three days earlier. The book mentioned the verse, Matthew 6:22, the actor’s favorite verse in the Bible. Actually the entire chapter of Matthew 6 is loaded with invaluable direction and lessons, including the Lord’s Prayer.
So, in listening to this book, I was curious, and had to refresh my memory on the verse, Matthew 6:22. The verse reads like this, according to the King James Version, “22 The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light…”
In my personal timeline, covering the first five months of 2021, all of this is forever intertwined. I listened to the book, and several specific songs, repeated in a playlist throughout a condensed period of time that I will never forget. It turned out to be my personal soundtrack for that stretch.
Those first five months of 2021 were among the toughest months of my life. And the last seven days including, and up to May 28th, 2021 at 6:22 PM were the heaviest minutes I have ever felt, applied like a full-court press that just wouldn’t let up.
If you have read closely any of the tributes I have written over the years, you will know how often I mention the eyes of a person living for God. There is no mistaking the light in such eyes. Literally. So, when I listened to the mentioning of Matthew 6:22, I took notice. For some quick context of that scripture, read these following thoughts from Charles Spurgeon (one of the great preachers of the last 200 years).
I love the context that Charles Spurgeon writes about regarding this passage of scripture.
“Spurgeon writes that…
A heart professedly set upon heaven but held in bondage to earth is like an eye blinded by the intrusion of a foreign substance, involving the unfortunate owner of it in darkness. There is no such thing as seeing spiritual things while the soul’s windows are fastened up with shutters of worldliness.
If thy motive be single — if thou hast only one motive, and that a right one — the master one of glorifying God — if thy eye be single. When a man’s highest motive is himself, what a dark and selfish nature he has; but when his highest motive is his God, what brightness of light will shine upon all.
Two leading principles cannot rule in one heart; they cannot both be master. Either sin or grace will engross the whole heart; neither will submit to compromise…”
In that context the eye of Matthew 6:22, is also my personal collection in memories of the eyes I have seen among believers, among some of the great ‘God-first’ people in my lifetime. And I have been blessed by many such people, many such loving eyes. It humbly brings me to tears to know such eyes have looked upon me in love and tenderness throughout my lifetime. I am so abundantly blessed.
“And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.” ~ John 6:40
Then there came the final moments of a life here on earth, May 28, 2021. In a literal semicircle of love, my family held hands with one another, our free hands held on to my brother. He, lying in a bed, drew his last breaths as we held him there. Miraculously he still knew my voice and I cried. His eyes opened for a fraction of a second looking toward the heavens and God opened the gates, calling him home.
It was 6:22 PM. Friday, August 22nd to Friday, May 28th, his life here spanned 18,907 days. I dare say that he was not short-changed on many of those days. But even so, 18,907 of something like this is too short; not enough. But we are not the timekeepers.
We are to make the most of the time we have and that includes the relationships of which we are part. Tend to such things for they are of the highest importance. That includes our relationship with God too.
Sunday, May 23, 2021. We laughed like little children while watching the Red Sox, devouring food, and making jokes as only brothers can. It was brilliant. That was the last I ever saw of the brother I knew for all of his days. It all changed dramatically by Monday morning.
I am eternally thankful for those minutes with my brother on a Sunday afternoon in an otherwise sterile hospital room. The light in his blue eyes glowed almost unreal, and in them there was love and life. A true, timeless, humbling gift just for me.
Rob, I will see you again one day, and oh, will it ever be glorious. I cannot wait. Until then, I will do my best to bring others closer to the God you and I know. Especially in heaven, the more the merrier.
Back when I was a boy I would lay on the green grass and stare at the sky. I would try to somehow understand the depth, or distance from my eyes into the reaches of the most beautiful blue. I would take in the clouds in their immense fullness. I would watch in awesome wonder, recording their ever changing shapes and gradation. To me, this of course was and still is a wonderful use of time.
But, that was not my late brother’s pace of life, it was too slow. So many differences, yet so many similarities. Now I look to the skies and I marvel in God’s glory, and I think about those who have been called home before me. It still takes my breath away. And I still look to the skies often.