Empty Chairs

Oct 16, 2024

3 min read

Eventually in life all the things click. All the things come full circle. All the things start to make sense. Little lessons, that weren't easily or not at all learned when you were younger ... you eventually learn the hard way.

How many empty chairs do you pass a day? How many empty chairs do you pass a day? Do you know?

What about today...how many times did you pass one? In your home? In your office? At a restaurant? Wherever you were or went today, I challenge you to pause for one second and think back through your day - how many empty chairs do recall passing? 30+? ...

You probably don't remember the exact amount. Because we don't slow down. We don't see the little, minor, insignificant things right in front of us. We're too busy chasing the next bigger or better thing. and missing so much along the way.

Until one day, you learn the hard way.

One day that chair becomes empty permanently.

One day that chair catches your attention every single time you pass it.

One day that empty chair stabs your chest with the sharpest blade.

Sometimes that empty chair brings you to your knees.

That empty chair is unfillable.

It doesn't matter how many people sit in it-

it will always be missing you.

It will always be empty.

It took me nearly a year after my dad died to let anyone sit in that chair.

Eventually we moved that empty chair into the main living room.

It's been sat in, it's been used.

But it's still empty. Because it's missing you.

Over 2 years and it's still a struggle to let you go.

It's still hard to accept you're gone

I miss you, dad. More than I could ever put in words.

That once insignificant empty chair is now the shattering reminder that you're gone and that empty chair now carries more significance than I ever thought possible.

That empty chair now also serves as a reminder of the hope we have in Jesus Christ and that, one day, we will see you again.

But for now, we will save your seat, dad.

'But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as indeed the rest of mankind do, who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose from the dead, so also God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep through Jesus. For we say this to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who remain, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore, comfort one another with these words.'