Matthew 7: 11 NKJV
There are times when I get sick and tired whenever I hear someone tell me how grateful they are for their parents who taught them so much. They don't realize that they're preaching to the choir. I get it. Trust me, if I had a father who had been there when he was supposed to be to teach his kids some of those lessons of life, I guess I'd be grateful as well. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case in my own life. So, like most people would do in like circumstances, I improvised. That is, I learned on the fly. Where others had the guidance of parents, I found my own way. One thing for which I extremely grateful is that I was not totally shut out of life's lessons. While my dad was out of the picture, I was blessed to have the wisdom of my mother to guide me. Of course, as anyone will tell you, a child needs that balanced guidance of both parents in order to be complete. That's just the way of things. So, while my mother indeed guided me in certain areas of my life, I was left stranded when it came to learning things that only a father can teach his children. Let's just say that he was never there to show me how to fish, shoot a gun, give me that first talk about girls or to do the things that fathers do. All of these things I needed to learn and experience on my own. I learned to fish, although not to catch. I learned to shoot, both a bow and a gun. However, as my dad wasn't there to give his teenage son that "talk" about the opposite sex...I was on my own with that one. I had to find my own way. By finding my own way, I would become enmeshed in a addiction to pornography as well as the flesh. Thanks dad. I guess that I can't lay all of the blame at his feet. They were my life decisions, and I stand by them. Despite the pain that it led me through, I believe that I emerged that much stronger as a result of going through all which I have. Would my dad have been proud of his son? I'll never know, he passed a few years ago. I know in my heart that my mother was proud of me, and she took every opportunity to tell others just that. My dad, however, was a enigma. I believe that I have inherited more than a few of his characteristics. His impatience, stoicism and his talent for keeping his emotions well inside of him. Indeed, in that respect he lives on. Knowing what I know of him, I believe that even that quiet mountain of a man would have been proud of his youngest son.
Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us; that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is
1 John 3: 1 - 2 NKJV
I can say that I grew up without a father. I have the scars to prove it. However, I can never claim that I was without the Father. That's right, although my own father was absent, my heavenly Father was never very far from me. While I would never trade any of what my father passed down to me, it is from my Father that I saw the man that I had become. Earthly experiences and life lessons will only carry one so far. There comes a time when we must learn for ourselves who it is that we really are. Am I really that man who the world says that I am? Or, am I the man whom God has revealed in me? I know that the world does not know the man I've become...because it has not known Him {1 John 3:1}. However, that does not mean that the world cannot know Him through me {Matthew 5: 16}. One of the truths of our own relationship with Christ Jesus is that it is no longer we who remain. The apostle Paul assures us of this as he tells us that it is Christ who remains in us {Galatians 2:20}. Therefore, as I carry those physical characteristics of my own father, so do I carry in me all that Jesus is. This is my DNA in Him. If this is difficult for you to wrap your mind around, remember the pushback Jesus got when He told anyone who would listen that He and the Father were one! Believe me, Jesus never lies, and we today share in the inheritance He has given us. Thanks Dad. One thing that I will tell people who will somehow feel sorry for me over my life experiences is that I would not trade it for anything. I mean that. I believe that everything happens for a reason. The life experiences which I was left with by growing up without a father led me to that realization of the man I've now become. In a few months a good friend of mine and I will have the opportunity to speak to a few young people who have been dealt some difficult circumstances in their lives. A few of them have grown up without a parent. I saw a opportunity here to tell my own story to these young men/women. I'm sure that among this group that there is one individual who, battered by their own life experiences, is searching for who they really are. I already know the answer to that question. I've found my own way.
"For this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found." And they began to be merry.
Luke 15: 24 NKJV
~Scott~
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