The Suit

A couple of weeks ago I washed my curtains and today I put them up. Just like every time I put curtains up I think of my mom putting wax paper on the end of the curtain rod so it slips through easier. From my dad it was probably the fact that it took me two weeks to get the curtains back up, I am my father’s daughter!

Many years ago I was pondering about how I had such a bent toward God even when I was a little girl. I had always loved going to church and I can’t remember a time I didn’t pray. I thought of how my mom would call us into the house every time Billy Graham was on TV. I don’t remember that there was a fuss about that at all, we all just sat down and watched the Crusade and a man called Billie. I can’t say that I remember much about what he had to say but the fact that my mom thought it was important spoke volumes to me.

With my dad, I remember like it was yesterday, standing in the back seat of our old car and listening to my mom and dad talk. I remember my dad saying “I need to get a suit so we can go to church someday”. I knew that going to church was important by just those few words. It would be years before my dad went to church but by that statement I knew I should strive toward spiritual things and that church was a good thing.

As I thought of these things and the words I heard my dad say, I wrote a poem on the back of a bank deposit slip that I still have today. These words, I felt, came from God so I wrote as fast as I could. I put these words away for right then, but a friend asked me to do something for Father’s Day in our church that year, so I pulled the poem out to read. My dad, mom and brothers and their families were there when I read “The Suit” and it was a special time for us all. I distinctly remember my brother wiping his eyes with his tie. When I finished reading it, my dad who was not normally an affectionate man rose to his feet to hug me as I came back to my seat. Not too long after that my dad asked the Lord into his heart and continued to come to church until his health kept him from it. God had my dad in mind when he gave me these words and I am so glad that my ears were open to hear them. My brother got bunches of copies made and I still have most of them. There was never a great demand for them but to our family these words I was given that day were very special. This poem was read at his funeral and will always mean so much to me. I look forward to seeing my dad in his “New Suit” when I get to heaven.


The Suit
In the spring of life I heard him say
Gonna get me a suit and go to church someday.
He worked so hard and time went by
Times are hard I heard him sigh.

In the summer of life I heard him say
Gonna get me a suit and go to church some day.
Thing were better but time went by
Don’t have time I heard him sigh

In the fall of life I heard him say
Got me a suit goin’ to church some day.
The time is now my dearest Dad
The Lord waits for you with outstretched hand.

He loves you Dad, I hear Him sayYou’ve got your suit, today’s the day.

I love you, Dad
Your Daughter

This verse was written to read at his funeral.

I got my suit of white, I here him say
Gonna walk those streets of gold this day.
Jesus awaits with outstretched hands
Rest in the arms of the Lord my dearest Dad

See you soon!