MyTimeToBlog
My father is an 82-year-old man who has reshaped our relationship through prayer, openness, humor, and above all, love. It hasn't always been like that, due to his family upbringing, personal struggles with substance abuse, and coming to terms with his faith. You see, my father was adopted, and his biological mother handed him a twenty-dollar bill, then walked out of his life forever. He succumbed to an addiction that had him way out there, I'm talking about Deep Space Nine. Now his faith in God has always been steadfast, but when he expressed anger for my mother, his children, my siblings and I pushed him to see that if he loves God as he said he does, he had to wake up and show us that God was real in him.
He had an abusive streak that caused my mother to divorce him. Forty years ago, they separated, and that hate lingered that long. I used to not want to hear him talk about God when it was followed by curse words directed at my mother. It pained me. It also pushed me away from my faith, because if God was real, my father wouldn't be this angry man. Well, my siblings and I pressed him to change. I'm talking an intervention about him needing to correct his relationship with our mother. Well, the seed took root, and my father finally apologized to my mother.
I'm in prison, so I couldn't be there to witness a miracle. What I did get for confirmation was a picture of my parents smiling next to each other, something that's never transpired in my life. That picture remained on my screensaver for an entire year. They showed me two things in that picture: one was that people could change, and the second was that forgiveness was a possibility. Every day I woke up I kissed my screensaver, then started my day.
My father took a leap of faith, one that ignited a thought inside of me: I can do the impossible. I have, and continue to do so each day, because when my father and I talk now, his spirit has seeped into mine, transforming my life.
I gotta be real because in order for you to truly see me, I gotta share what my father handed me as I stepped out into the world early in my life: Believe in God, and if any man spits on you, crush them; breaking their spirit or their body. I carried that with me for a long time.
Now what he's given me is these daily quotes to help me grow: "Just one positive thought in the morning can change your whole day."
"Time is free, but it's priceless. You can't own it, but you can use it. You can't keep it, but you can spend it. Once you lose it, you can never get it back."
"You must train your mind to think differently in struggles. You are always one thought away from a completely different life. Have the iron and steel mind of Jesus Christ."
This is what he gives me every time we talk. I take it and share it with my incarcerated brethren. They're in awe, but I'm letting them know it's my father who gave me this wisdom. My father. The man I look up to every day.
I was talking with someone close and was asked to look back five years and see where you were. Now look ahead five years and what will your life be like? I smiled because even at 82 years of age, the guidance my father provided has ushered me into a place of greatness. That's why every Thursday I converse with my father, picking his brain on how to deal with life.
My father...I love him so much. I praise God for him. I laugh when I think about him because I have a father that I'm proud of. One that has overcome his share of obstacles. His strength has grown immensely in faith, fatherhood, and being a man.
I don't know your relationship with your father, but I'll say this: they have a hard job raising us, sometimes it'll piss you off with what they do. Sometimes you may cut them off from your life...and sometimes you'll think about the love they had when they did the best job they could. Never forget to see that. I didn't, and look at what my Thursdays are like now.