My Father and the Greatest Commandment
A Note from Don Nori Jr.
A friend shared this verse with me: "My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever." (Psalm 73:26 )
My father, Don Nori Sr, was a man filled with love for others. Love flowed into him, through him, and out again in a magnified way. He exemplified the love of Jesus.
He spent his final hours listening to the audio from videos of past holidays with family, and playing worship music. He was surrounded by family.
The Chaplan present at the hospital was Nigerian. Very fitting considering that Don Sr was scheduled to travel to Africa this week! God spoke to the family through the Chaplain, and he led us in prayer. His family wept for him. His twin brother embraced him.
All of our love poured out and followed him.
Loving God and others is what life is really about. No matter who you are or what you do, it comes down to living a life of love. Love is priceless. It is fundamental to true significance. Your quality of life is directly tied to the amount of love flowing in you and through you to others. Love is infinitely more valuable than riches, fame, or honor. They will pass away, but love remains.
Love compels us to be humble, and to fully forgive failures. Over and over again. Love constantly inspires honesty, respect, commitment, forgiveness, and endurance to grow and thrive.Jesus said that life's greatest command is to love God with all you are and to love your neighbor as yourself.
Don Nori Sr embraced a life of love. It is his example that taught me what real love is and helped me to become a loving person.
I am a son.
I learned what I know from my dad.
I watched him.I followed him.
He brought me with him.He taught me.
He showed me.
He loved me, absolutely.
And I took that for granted. I thought I had all the time in the world. Now, I am out of time. And the person who would tell me that it would be OK, is gone.
He bought me coffee pods for my keurig every couple of weeks for the past several years. It really hit me when I reached for coffee this week. What an act of love. I don’t even remember the last time I thanked him for that. He knew I loved coffee and he just did it for me.There are many examples like this that I keep bumping into. Some more difficult to handle than others: A simple text message that I come across. Something one of my children might say. Or just discovering that he prayed with my wife over the phone almost every night after I had fallen asleep.
He had so many acts of love.
And I have so many regrets.
I’ve got so many, I’m sorry, I want him to forgive me.It’s so heavy, these regrets I carry, and I'm sorry, please lift them from me.
I don’t want any regrets to carry.
I’m sorry, Dad, please forgive me pray for Jesus to come. For Jesus to heal me. I pray for Jesus come. To Heal me and take the pain away!
I pray I don’t have regrets to carry anymore.
I pray that I’m forgiven. I pray for Jesus to heal me!
I am a son.
I learned what I know from my dad.
I watched him.I followed him.
He brought me with him.
He taught me.
He showed me.
He loved me, absolutely!
I love you dad!
Don Nori Jr.CEO, Destiny Image