Sealed and Unopened (Dedicated to my Dad this Father’s Day)

Every year for Father’s Day, I set out to find the perfect Father’s Day card for my dad. For him and I, this card expressed our relationship. It never had Thomas Kinkaide artwork on it (though he really liked him) nor did it have something about him being the World’s Greatest Father. Anything sappy was out.

No, the more obnoxious this card was, the better. It usually had some funny character or Far-Side type comic on the front.  Then inside it always had too be either punny or sarcastically funny.

This was us.  To present him with anything different would not have been a testament to our relationship.

Five years ago, I sent him his Father’s Day card. It did not arrive in time for him to open it before he went into the hospital for surgery.

He never made it out of surgery.

The card laid on his kitchen counter, sealed and unopened. It remains sealed and unopened. I don’t remember what it says or what it looks like, but I do remember laughing out loud in the card aisle when I picked it out.

At first, I was sad he never got to open it, but since I have discovered a beauty in it being left sealed and unopened. It’s like a beautiful, loving mystery he and I share between the realms of Heaven and Earth.

There are so many things we leave sealed and unopened in our hearts and minds. However, we get to to share this incredible mystery between Heaven and Earth, between God and us.

God sees all. He knows all. Our secret selves are no match for him.

“would not God discover this?
    For he knows the secrets of the heart.” Psalm 44:21 

Take heart. There is nothing truly left unopened and sealed. There is nothing really left unsaid.

Lord, you have examined me
    and know all about me.
² You know when I sit down and when I get up.
    You know my thoughts before I think them.
³ You know where I go and where I lie down.
    You know everything I do.
⁴ Lord, even before I say a word,
    you already know it.
⁵ You are all around me—in front and in back—
    and have put your hand on me.
⁶ Your knowledge is amazing to me; 
    it is more than I can understand.

Psalm 139:1-6