Well Done…..

 

No…that is not a reference to how I like my steak. In fact if you serve me a steak that is not soft to the touch, pink all the way through with a bright red center, (otherwise known as medium-rare), I am a bit disappointed. Even if I am the one on the grill. The title is the words we who know our Bible long to hear when we step into Eternity. “Well Done My good and faithful servant.” 

Let me take you back in time for a couple of minutes. My parents divorced when I was a very small child. I mean small, like three years old. I spent years with an absent birth mother. Literally the rest of my life. My dad remarried a few months before my seventh birthday and gifted my sisters and myself with the greatest step-mom in the world, who earned the title of Mother. Then about 10 years later, divorced her. For several years I was estranged from him, hurt and angry. Now, if you have any experience with children of divorce, or are one yourself, you know that it is difficult for a child to separate the breakup of parents from themselves. You can tell them it is not about them all you want to, but when one parent leaves the other, the child will at some level feel left and abandoned as well. How they process it depends upon many factors. Age, environment and communication being among them. I know some people who breezed through their parents’ breakup with apparently no scars, while others are in therapy for years. I cannot tell you what makes the difference, as some of these people are from the same families. My story is mine and I know that I survived it because of several things. I was loved by some incredibly strong women, and I had a Grandmother who prayed for us, by name, every day until the day she closed her eyes and woke up looking at Jesus.

I give you this background for this reason. I felt very invisible to my dad for a long time. I was the middle of three girls until I was 12 years old. Such a typical middle child. For the most part, anyway. I didn’t get in trouble, like the stereotype, but I struggled to be seen. I wanted desperately to please my dad so worked very hard to be good. I was a good student and tried to be better. He wanted a son, so I played sports. Yet no matter what I did, I never felt quite good enough. In retrospect, I confess, that was my own way of seeing things and perhaps not reality. But the way of parenting in the 60’s and 70’s was not the way we did it in the 80’s and 90’s, and a very far cry from the way my children are doing it today. 

My dad did come back around in my life about the time that I was having my third child. I remember, vividly, him coming to visit me in the hospital. My children were all born Cesarean so I was in the hospital for several days after their birth. He came to see me the day after, and I will never forget what he said to me as he looked at me lying in the bed, holding my son. With a smile on his face, he leaned down and kissed me on the cheek and said in his southern drawl, “You done good, Honey, you done good.”

I have to confess, at this moment, as I type those words, remembering that moment, I get teary. The pride in his voice, the emotion that flooded me at that moment still moves me. How I had yearned for so long to hear my dad express pride in me. To know that what I was doing was seen by him, that he approved of it. That, in fact, he approved of me. 

This morning, as I was loading my dishwasher, I stopped as I heard a song playing. I was immediately transported simultaneously into the future and past. I could hear my dad’s voice while at the same time picture my Savior. The overwhelming thought of hearing our Lord express His satisfaction in us for a job well done, a life well lived, as He welcomes us into His Kingdom with the words, “Well done, my good and faithful servant.” 

I am sharing the lyrics of the song. What is it that He has called you to do? Small or great, it does not matter. Do all that you do to the glory of God, so that one day we can hear Him say, Well Done.

What will it be like when my pain is gone
And all the worries of this world just fade away?
What will it be like when You call my name
And that moment when I see You face to face?

I'm waiting my whole life to hear You say

Well done, well done
My good and faithful one
Welcome to the place where you belong
Well done, well done
My beloved child
You have run the race and now you're home
Welcome to the place where you belong

What will it be like when tears are washed away
And every broken thing will finally be made whole?
What will it be like when I come into Your glory
Standing in the presence of a love so beautiful?

I'm waiting my whole life for that day
I will live my life to hear You say

Well done, well done
My good and faithful one
Welcome to the place where you belong
Well done, well done
My beloved child
You have run the race and now you're home
Welcome to the place where you belong

What will it be like when I hear that sound?
All of heaven's angels crying out
Singing holy, holy, holy are You, Lord
Singing holy, holy, holy are You, Lord
Singing holy, holy, holy are You, Lord
Waiting my whole life for that day
Until then I'll live to hear You say

Well done, well done
My good and faithful one
Welcome to the place where you belong
Well done, well done
My beloved child
You have run the race and now you're home
Welcome to the place where you belong

Well done