My Father

My mom e-mailed me this picture today.

I was unprepared for how seeing this image would affect me.  It made things feel final, and I cried.  So I decided the best therapy would be to finally sit down and write about this.

To begin here is his obituary.
I, Lonnie Frederick Baird, having been born of goodly parents, Frederick Twede Baird and Sarah Orton Baird, both of whom were descendants of valiant pioneer stock, appreciate the great examples provided by my parents; I love you both very much. I have been highly favored of the Lord all the days of my life. I was born in West Mountain/Payson, Utah. I was welcomed into the home by a hearty big brother, Dennis (Christine), and a sweet sister, Vickie (deceased). Before long we had a baseball team, joined by Scott (Bonnie), Jillean (Art Allen), Jacquelyn (Mark Standing), Chad (Cathy), then Vickie escorted both Kimberli (Brian Westover), and Daren (Cami) from above. I was raised in Orem where I attended great schools and had many influential church leaders. I had the privilege of serving in the Munich, Southern German Mission. I learned to love the German people and the culture. I met my sweetheart, Julie Anne Smith, from Moultrie, Georgia and married her in the Manti Temple in January 1974. Thank you, Julie, for your kind and considerate care. That marriage began another great family: Christopher James (Kimberlie), Shon Frederick, Lonnie Joseph (Cody), Timothy Seth, Amy Rebecca (Mikel Jackson) and Elizabeth Anne (James Hurst). I now have 15 dear grandchildren and I am going to guide more this way from heaven to earth; the first arriving in March of this year. I love this country. I served this country and retired from the US Army. I worked hard as a small business owner for over 30 years. I also served this country working for the Department of Veterans Affairs. I loved those I served and served with. I loved to travel and always found kind, generous people in this gorgeous earth. So I say to myself, “What a wonderful World.”Dear Lonnie was diagnosed 5 years ago with late stage colon cancer, he fought hard and had 4 more wonderful years, and then it metastasized to his brain. He encourages everyone to get a colonoscopy; it will be so much easier than what he went through! He was a wonderful son, brother, husband, father and grandfather. He was faithful in all his church callings and was dedicated to serving the Lord. He was always an optimist, never a complainer, and a man full of faith. Even on the day he left us he proclaimed he felt "great." He passed away surrounded by family at home. We will miss him greatly. Until we meet again!

My father is a wonderful man and has been a great example and teacher to me and I am certain will continue to be. 
Each of his children was asked to prepare a little something and share it at his funeral services.  I thought long and hard and wrote down my thoughts and what I wanted to say but I did not bring it with me so the words I shared were somewhat jumbled.  So I would like to share what I wanted to say hear:

Charity- the pure Love of Christ. This is a word and action that is sometimes hard for us to understand and implement into our lives.  My Father was a great example to me and helped me to better understand what charity is.  He is a man who loved me and I am certain all others as well unconditionally.  He saw who we were and what we could become and he loved us for that.  He did his best to help us become our best.  He did this mostly by example.  It was not a rare thing to catch him studying his scriptures or kneeling in prayer.  He was also always working hard and serving others.  The only times I can remember him raising his voice and truly getting after me was at times that I was disrespectful to my mother.  At times when I made other mistakes he was kind and loving and encouraging.

In my life as I have had spiritual epiphany moments he is one I always wanted to discuss these with.  He could always help me understand more and he truly helped me to learn and understand the Gospel better.

One of the last spiritual discussions I had with him was in regards to angels and their obvious presence in our lives.  He then found this quote from Henry B Eyring and shared it with me.  I can think of nothing more appropriate than this to share now.

“If we have faith in Jesus Christ, the hardest as well as the easiest times in life can be a blessing. In all conditions, we can choose the right with the guidance of the Spirit. We have the gospel of Jesus Christ to shape and guide our lives if we choose it. And with prophets revealing to us our place in the plan of salvation, we can live with perfect hope and a feeling of peace. We never need to feel that we are alone or unloved in the Lord’s service because we never are. We can feel the love of God. The Savior has promised angels on our left and our right to bear us up.¹⁰ And He always keeps His word.

My Father was an angel to me in life and I am certain will continue to be one still.  I love you dad and I look forward to the day we shall me again.

 

I would like to finish this post urging and encouraging everyone to learn from and follow my Fathers example, to love unconditionally, especially your family for they are God's greatest gift to you.

While these past few months I have missed my dad and have cried over him, the thing that has broken my heart the most these months is seeing other families being ripped apart. Miscommunication, pettiness and pride can tear families apart and hurt much worse than death.  Death is not a permanent separation of family, but what we do and how we treat each other in this life can lead to a permanent separation.  So can we all step back and put our pride aside and love our families deeper.

In our most recent April 2013 Conference Elder Richard G Scott said this specifically speaking of families: "Recognize the good in others, not their stains.  At times a stain needs appropriate attention to be cleansed, but always build on his or her virtues." My dad would have agreed full heartedly with this.