My dear children,
Today as I sat down at my desk and prepared to begin my
day, I looked up at the walls of my cubicle and saw the pictures of you that
were taken on the day you were born: Logan looking up at me with wide eyes, and
Lilly sleeping peacefully in your mother’s arms, wrapped up safe and
sound. I began to think of how right now
you cannot understand just how I love you and I thought of how one day when you
are grown circumstances in your life may have brought you to a place where you
can maybe understand better. I thought
of how my own journey in life brought me to this place. I thought of how there were times when I did
not understand my own parents and felt oppressed by them, how there were dark
times in my life when I felt that no one truly loved me, and I wondered if you
would go through times like these. I
thought about what an imperfect example of love I am. And I thought of how, despite being
imperfect, you truly are the greatest joys in my life, your births are the most
important events of my life, and bringing you into the world is my greatest
accomplishment. I remembered the day I
became a father, how I realized with fear and trembling that somehow, having
only known you for scant moments, I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that protecting
you was the most important thing in the world.
I learned an important lesson about love when I realized that on the one
hand, if anything were to happen to hurt you it would hurt me far greater than
anything that could happen directly to me – and that was a very frightening
realization. On the other hand, I also
realized something wonderful that I hope I never forget: that if anything were
to physically happen to me, such as losing an arm, as long as you were safe it
would be insignificant: nothing can truly hurt me as long as I have love in my
life. I know there will be times in your
lives when you feel completely alone, unloved, misunderstood. I know there will be times when I act very
human and set a poor example of what love truly is. I know you will experience hard times, and it
hurts me very much to know that. But I
hope and pray that one day, you will emerge from the fog, and you will look
back and see that all throughout these hard times you were very much loved, and
loved deeply. Maybe you will see the
evidence that during these hard times, someone was weeping for you – wishing
you could see clearly what lay ahead, and understand how insignificant the
pains of this world are. I pray that one
day you will love and be loved deeply, and that through this you will
understand how much you are loved by your father on earth, and your Father in
heaven. And I hope you will understand
that love means that all those times you looked at your Father and denied his
love – they have been washed away and forgotten, never to be brought up
again. Don’t ever let shame cause you to
hold back and avoid your Father’s arms – there is nothing you could possibly do
that would ever cause him to stop loving you.
Just like the father in the story of the Prodigal son – he will stand at
the edge of his driveway watching and waiting for your return no matter how
long he has to wait and the moment he sees you he will run to embrace you,
never waiting for or requiring your apology before he wraps his arms around
you. I pray one day you will know this
love, and learn how to give love of the same kind to those around you. I pray you will understand that love is the
greatest accomplishment and the most important task in this life on earth.
If I could speak all the languages of earth and of
angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging
cymbal. If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret
plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains,
but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. If I gave everything I have to the
poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love
others, I would have gained nothing. Love
is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does
not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being
wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth
wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and
endures through every circumstance.
In this life I know I will never be a great example of
Love. But I love you, just the same.
Always.
Your father on earth
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