Life, A Poem By My Father

 (Bill Pruitt) William Pruitt Jr.'s high school Sr. Picture

“Who knows nothing base, fears nothing known.” — Owen Meredith

My father died April 20, 1998. He suffered most of his life with health issues surrounding a heart condition, which fought him at every turn. My dad was one of the most loving and personable men I have ever known. He left a legacy of perseverance in suffering and selfless love for his family and friends. He was, as his grave marker reads, “A loving father of three grateful children.”

My dad loved life and he loved his family, and while I did not know him well, I treasure what I do know about him and what he has taught me. After his death, the following poem, “Life,” was found in his personal belongings. I was made aware of this poem well after my love of poetry had developed and well after I had started writing poetry myself. I cannot help but believe I have received this love of poetry, and the ability to craft poetry, from my father.

Another treasure that I found in my dad’s Sr. yearbook was a quote by Owen Meredith beside his picture. This quote simply states, “Who knows nothing base, fears nothing known.” My dad’s courage, zeal for life and rejection of fear in the face of his own illness and hardships inspire me in the face of my own fears, insecurities and uncertainties. I treasure these gifts that my father has given me, even after his death. Discovering these treasures has been a continuation of knowing my father and growing in my relationship with him until I see him again in paradise.

Life

He was hit!

He suffered

He wept inside

He died.

He never gave up.

Although he cried

He is man.


“Courage is afforded at a high cost but the reward is great.”


© William Pruitt

 William Pruitt Jr.'s (Bill's) college graduation photo

"Sir William Pruitt Jr.", photo by Uncle Charles H Burroughs Jr.

Dad on the front porch at 1216 Shirley Street in Columbia, SC

Me and Dad at my High School Graduation in 1995

William Pruitt Jr.'s Obituary from April 1998

I Am With You

I’m With You, photo by rosmary from Flickr

“Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.” –Isaiah 7:14

“Devise your strategy, but it will be thwarted; propose your plan, but it will not stand, for God is with us.” –Isaiah 8:10

In ninth grade Bible class the other day the students and I got into a fascinating conversation about the fiery furnace in Daniel 3.

The student did not understand why God, being all-powerful and almighty, would come down and rescue Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego from the furnace, when all He had to do was rescue them from a distance.

"He said, 'Look! I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods.'” -Daniel 3:25

Here is how the conversation went:

Student: "Sir, Why would God not just save them from the fiery furnace? He didn't have to go in there.”

Teacher: "This is our God. He not only saves us from the fiery furnace, He enters into it with us and saves us!"

The mysterious and marvelous incarnation is simply this: God is with us.

God enters into our sufferings and delivers us from them. This is what the Angel was saying when the announcement was made: “‘The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel’ (which means ‘God with us’)” (Matthew 1:23). Our God is Immanuel. Our God is with us.

Tim Keller talks about the incarnation as God’s answer to suffering and he talks about this answer to suffering being the gift of Christmas: “We sometimes wonder why God doesn’t just end suffering. But we know that whatever the reason, it isn’t one of indifference or remoteness. God so hates suffering and evil that he was willing to come into it and become enmeshed in it . . . The gift of Christmas gives you a resource – a comfort and consolation – for dealing with suffering, because in it we see God’s willingness to enter this world of suffering with us and for us.”

God is with us.

Frederick Buechner says this about the incarnation: “The incarnation is ‘a kind of vast joke whereby the Creator of the ends of the earth comes among us in diapers... Until we too have taken the idea of the God-man seriously enough to be scandalized by it, we have not taken it as seriously as it demands to be taken.’”

God is with us. Are we scandalized by this reality? Are we aware of God’s presence in the fieriest of furnaces that we find ourselves in? God does not just want to rescue us from our hardships, pains and sufferings; God is with us in them.