My niece and her husband bought the house that Melody grew up in, first when her grandparents lived there and then when her parents owned it. Now she and Greg live in the “Creek House” just across the creek from our home. I want to share with you a piece she wrote the year COVID kept Bill from being with the family for Thanksgiving dinner.
“Go to the window and look out across the creek,” he said. I know, when Bill Gaither calls, to respond because it is a special and rare thing for him to request my attention in the midst of his busy schedule. Looking out the window, I gazed across the autumn landscape and rippling water of the creek toward the Gaither property. What was I to view? A huge bonfire blazing ten feet high in the still November air, and Bill Gaither tending it with great care. Though I couldn’t see his face, I knew he was smiling.
Now, as Paul Harvey would have said, here’s the rest of the story:
Bride Gloria and her flower girl niece Melody
It was Thanksgiving Day 2022. My husband Greg and I had just retired and purchased my grandparents’ home just across the creek (also known as Gaither’s Pond) from Gloria and Bill. You see, my mother was Gloria’s sister Evelyn, so I have been blessed to be family with them my whole life. We were hosting our extended family for Thanksgiving dinner, and Gloria was there with us.
Unfortunately, Bill had tested positive for COVID after returning from a Gaither Vocal Band tour and couldn’t join us. He was disappointed, but we took him a plateful of our bountiful feast, and prayed that he would recover quickly and without any lingering after-effects.
Meanwhile, Bill was at home trying to come up with a way to communicate with all of us by a means other than technology…trying to do something that would invoke memories of the many special Thanksgivings our family has shared over the years…trying to convey his love for us all. Saint Francis of Assisi gave us this wonderful nugget of wisdom--“Preach the Gospel at all times, and if necessary, use words.” There were no words to convey the depth of what Bill wanted to share that day, to communicate fully how he wanted to connect with us, to declare, “I love you kids!”
There couldn’t have been a better means to express his gratitude and love for us than through a way that is Bill Gaither, through and through. Building fires is one of the things he does best--at home by the creek, or in concerts all over the country, inviting people to feel the warmth.
Bill loves fires…the glow of a candle, a log or two burning in their kitchen hearth, the glimmer of an evening ember near the front porch in a little fire pot, or down the hillside in the huge bonfire pit around which family and friends have gathered for many a roaring blaze and hearty sing-along. And doesn’t sitting by a campfire evoke the feeling of being right at home, even when you’re miles away? There is almost always some form of fire shimmering at the Gaither home. One by one, the family joined me by the window to take in the view of the epic bonfire, and we sensed the significance radiating from the warmth of Bill’s blazing communiqué.
Fire…intense…shouting a clear message that warmed our hearts on that chilly autumn evening, reaching out to us with the love of the Lord and the fellowship of His Spirit. A message that burned with deep understanding, needing no voice, no words…telling of a bond formed through love and the sharing of many special moments, a tender message eloquently spoken in the blaze of a bonfire across the creek.
