Greetings from the Ashery,
Hope you all are having a great day today on this Monday morning. If the saying “no news is good news” is true then everything should be going great around here since I’m nearly 2 weeks over due on getting this letter out.
For me it’s pretty much impossible to write something over Father’s Day and not spend some time reflecting on my Dad’s life and the impact that he had on me. On July 18th it will be 11 years that my Dad (Cecil) died. In some ways it seems very long and in many more ways it seems like yesterday.
My Dad and I’s relationship was no different than a lot of other Father / Son relationships. There were times we would disagree and me being the mature young man that I was, (feel the sarcasm ) thought I certainly knew a better way of handling situations then Dad. This didn’t seem to pan out to well in the end. So ya, I didn’t really appreciate Dad very well at times and things didn’t go to well through those times..
There were also many great times together. My Dad loved to travel and we did this as a family frequently through the Western United States, creating some of the greatest memories of all together. The highlight of traveling had to be when he decided he loved the West so much that he bought a property and home in NW Montana and turned it into a Bed & Breakfast. We never lived there but spent lots of time there. One particular Christmas was spent there in the mountains with extended family in nearly 2ft of snow along with sleigh rides and ice hockey. It was a sad day in 1993 for our family when we realized that the time had come to move on to a different phase of life and sell the Bed & Breakfast. But wow, the memories. Hunting, fishing & hiking the great outdoors. Watching the sunsets and the majesty of the mountains.
It’s one of the greatest things I loved about my Dad, an adventurous spirit. He was always dreaming of what he could do with a place or thing and experimenting with this and that. (we were lucky if 1% of it happened and glad that 80% didn’t happen.) It’s called living life to the fullest.
As I ponder the previous paragraphs it dawns on me that there are sort of like, two worlds there. One of bad relationships, hurt & pain, the other of life, affirmation and empowerment. I believe the reason I am able to enjoy the second of those two worlds is because of a very profound virtue that my Dad modeled to me and that is the power of Forgiveness & Humility.
I remember many times Dad coming to me after a days work and apologizing for the way he had talked to me that day and asking for forgiveness of how he treated me. I could never sit here today and be filled with love & respect for him if he wouldn’t have pointed me to the perfect Dad, Father God. It’s because of the Forgiveness that my dad found through Jesus Christ that he was able to admit his wrongs, Forgive others and ask for forgiveness. it’s because of the Forgiveness that I have found through Jesus Christ that I have been able to Forgive Dad and enjoy the lifetime of great memories and endless amounts of good that Dad gave me. I’m just sitting here thinking……What if I would have chosen bitterness & anger?
Here it is now, 2015 and I’m a Dad too. There’s relationships to be had with my beautiful wife and 4 children. With God’s Grace it is my desire to pass on the baton of Forgiveness and Humility.
Thank you Jesus & Thank you Dad,
Happy Trails, Curt
