Always Father, & Lord?

11/30/04 We come again, O Lord, humble and thankful for the blessings of life, for the renewal of ties with family this past week – for friends and their patience and understanding and for the strength you offer each of us. Amen

If I pause to investigate what our family did for this 2004 Thanksgiving, I will get lost along the way and this will not get posted.

Sufficed to say, in the last 30 days, and maybe longer, my dad’s prayers were never addressed, “O Lord.” Even my phone’s autocorrect has been programmed to pray, “Our Father,” or “Our Heavenly Father.” So today, back in 2004, why, “O Lord”?

In my Bible studies I have found that being a word usage & pattern detective helps me. It seems to be a product of my early art training; spotting contrasting elements that jump out at you.

So this usage begs an explanation I will never get, not from Dad anyway.

But in my own life, I know there are patterns of my walk in this life. Days, weeks, months, years where I can only see a limited range of titles and names of God. Then I attend the Messiah, in the Toledo Museum of Art’s Peristyle (of course) and I hear, “And His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace…” and I am so moved I can scarcely breathe.

May you be awestruck today & your breath be taken away.