Thursday, June 21, 2012

An Imperfect Father's Day

Celebrating Father's Day this past Sunday made me realize how much unexpected and unrecognized pain surrounds so many of our most familiar holidays.  We dream of a picture perfect day where everyone has smiling faces and happy hearts.  We often miss the suffering just beneath the surface.

Within my own small sphere of friends and family I thought of six separate circumstances that were far from the perfect image.

I thought of my dear father who has lost his only son and namesake at the age of 27.

I thought of my friend who had just lost his father to the devastating ravages of cancer.

I thought of a delightful new young friend whose father had abandoned her as a child.

I thought of my stalwart lifelong friend whose husband had ripped apart their young family to pursue an affair with another woman.

I thought of another faithful friend who lost her beloved father within one day of losing her mother.

I thought of my friend who lost her father to suicide several years ago.

I feel such a weight of sadness as I think of the pain each of these people has to endure in the depths of their hearts and souls.  I wish I had done more to honor and be sensitive to that pain.  I pray that in the future I will see more clearly the wounds that surround me that I might in some small way be able to lessen the load of sadness or bring a glimpse of hope and healing to ease the pain.  I pray for the grace to be kind and remember that each person I meet carries their own heavy burden.

1 comment:

  1. Beautiful post, so much more than I thought was going to come~~ thank you for sharing your thoughts on father's day.

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