My Son - Revisited
My previous post about my son Patrick (9/06) relayed my deep and unflinching love for Patrick - but also the confusion and sometimes searing pain I felt in response to the direction he had taken. It is time, I think, to update my odes to my children - starting with my oldest.
I am so VERY proud to say that my son Patrick is now serving in the U.S. Army. It is improper and imprudent to live vicariously through your children, but he has had the opportunity to do that which his father was not allowed. I am not a little envious of my son - but even more proud. The young man who commands the deepest emotion his father is capable of feeling now commands the respect of his father as well.
It is one of a father's deepest desires, I think, to reach that point in life where his son becomes his equal. At least, it has been one of my deepest desires. To see my son mature into manhood - to be able to truly call him friend as well as son - is answer to prayer indeed.
The sleepless nights have passed - I no longer lay awake wondering if he's safe, praying he's not in harm's way. Although his journey is still far different than mine, it is now one that I understand. He and I still do not look at life through the same prism, but that is good. I have raised a man who is his own person - each day becoming more trustworthy, more dependable, more mature, more of a Godly man - but still his own person.
And oh the mighty love I still have - it catches my breath - my love for my son. The golden-haired boy God allowed me to raise is now a soldier's soldier - but still my son. I am eternally grateful to my God that He has allowed me to see Patrick grow into a man. The struggles continue - as they always will - but the peace of knowing he now has the tools to handle them is an abiding peace indeed.
I love you Patrick and no father has EVER been more proud of his son. Again, there is a passage which speaks to the relentless nature of God's love for His children; it is that, "neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, can separate us from the love of God in Jesus Christ our lord." While I certainly am not God, inasmuch as I am physically, emotionally, and spiritually able, the same is true of my love for my son. There is NOTHING that can separate my son from my love.
I am so VERY proud to say that my son Patrick is now serving in the U.S. Army. It is improper and imprudent to live vicariously through your children, but he has had the opportunity to do that which his father was not allowed. I am not a little envious of my son - but even more proud. The young man who commands the deepest emotion his father is capable of feeling now commands the respect of his father as well.
It is one of a father's deepest desires, I think, to reach that point in life where his son becomes his equal. At least, it has been one of my deepest desires. To see my son mature into manhood - to be able to truly call him friend as well as son - is answer to prayer indeed.
The sleepless nights have passed - I no longer lay awake wondering if he's safe, praying he's not in harm's way. Although his journey is still far different than mine, it is now one that I understand. He and I still do not look at life through the same prism, but that is good. I have raised a man who is his own person - each day becoming more trustworthy, more dependable, more mature, more of a Godly man - but still his own person.
And oh the mighty love I still have - it catches my breath - my love for my son. The golden-haired boy God allowed me to raise is now a soldier's soldier - but still my son. I am eternally grateful to my God that He has allowed me to see Patrick grow into a man. The struggles continue - as they always will - but the peace of knowing he now has the tools to handle them is an abiding peace indeed.
I love you Patrick and no father has EVER been more proud of his son. Again, there is a passage which speaks to the relentless nature of God's love for His children; it is that, "neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, can separate us from the love of God in Jesus Christ our lord." While I certainly am not God, inasmuch as I am physically, emotionally, and spiritually able, the same is true of my love for my son. There is NOTHING that can separate my son from my love.
posted by posttinebraelux | 7:10 PM
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