Truthsayer
Member
- Joined
- Feb 21, 2009
- Messages
- 15
In 1997 I had an Idea for a poem. I entitled it "Christmas is Forgiving". It took me seven years to complete it. Whenever I thought I was finished, new insight would pop up and I found myself needing to work it into my poem. Finally, in the summer of 2004, I finished my poem to my satisfaction. What occurred later on that year was totally unexpected. Here is my finished poem:
Christmas is Forgiving
Our Father who art in heaven,
My name is confusion, as I am sure you already know.
I am writing on behalf of myself and others who hold this name
But who are afraid to confront you.
I hope you don't mind that I ask you some questions.
Yours is the only answer I need as I know You would never mislead.
The Christmas season is fast approaching.
Amid the hustle, bustle, shopping frenzies, jingle bells and santa claus, I have forgotten what it is truly about.
I know that Christmas is for giving, but preparing for this day always leaves me exhausted, in debt and left with a feeling that something dear has been lost.
Tell me Father, where is the reward in such Christmas giving?
Is love measured only in the size or expense of the material fruits of mankind?
Is there something else being greatly overlooked?
WAIT!
For giving can be one word, can it not?
And is not this day celebrated in honor of the birth of Jesus Christ?
And was it not the purpose of the life of Jesus to show and teach us how to bring forth liberty from sin and redeem our souls through the act of forgiving?
"Forgive our debts, as we forgive our debtors".
Of course!
It is the ultimate act of Grace!
A giving which comes straight from the heart, holds no monetary value, yet brings forth an indebtedness of a joyous nature!
Thank you Father for this invaluable insight!
There is no greater gift of the heart we can give than the gift of forgiveness. It is where true healing begins.
I shall pass this revelation on to the others in your name and encourage the form of giving necessary to bring peace, love and eternal joy to all who practice it.
Now that I have received your answer, I feel no need to send this letter.
You were listening as I was writing, now my name is clarity.
*****
As I said earlier, when I finished this poem in the summer of 2004, what occurred later that year was totally unexpected.
My biological father walked out on my mother and my brothers and I while I was still in diapers. I never heard from him all the while I was growing up. From the stories my mother told about him, I didn't care if I ever met him. My anger and disrespect toward him was ever growing.
It was December 26, 2004. I received a call from my mother who had heard from some unexpected grapevine, that my father had had a heart attack and was in the hospital. Why she thought I should care, I don't know. After she told me that, I felt obliged to go visit him. The hospital he was taken to was only a five minute walk from where I lived at the time. I mulled over the idea all day, and in the evening I decided to go see him.
As I was walking to the hospital, my nerves were on edge and my emotions awry. Will he know who I am? Will I give him another heart attack? God forbid!
I won't go into details about our visit except to say it was a good one. He was surprised to see me and at first we were both felling awkward, but as the visit progressed we relaxed and fell into conversation about his mother, who I was named after. Our visit lasted about an hour and a half that night. The next day I went back to see him again and this time I took my 16 year old daughter with me.
He was discharged from hospital on December 29, and went back to home in another town. We kept in touch after that and I even spent one year living in his hometown so as to get to know him better. I let go of the anger I felt toward him as I could see that he realises the mistakes he made in life and is regretting them now.
I know that I will probably never have a close, father/daughter relationship with him, but this forgiving experience was truly liberating, for me at least. It was definitely a weight lifted.
The amazing was this;
The town where my father lives has a hospital fully equipped with the latest in medical technology. Yet, he was "air-lifted" from his home town to a hospital 80 miles away in the city, and only a five minute walk from my apartment! Not only was I given the opportunity to "forgive" my father, (the one person who needed it the most), but I was given the chance to do it in person, and it occurred right at Christmas! Any other way would have been impossible.
Christmas is Forgiving
Our Father who art in heaven,
My name is confusion, as I am sure you already know.
I am writing on behalf of myself and others who hold this name
But who are afraid to confront you.
I hope you don't mind that I ask you some questions.
Yours is the only answer I need as I know You would never mislead.
The Christmas season is fast approaching.
Amid the hustle, bustle, shopping frenzies, jingle bells and santa claus, I have forgotten what it is truly about.
I know that Christmas is for giving, but preparing for this day always leaves me exhausted, in debt and left with a feeling that something dear has been lost.
Tell me Father, where is the reward in such Christmas giving?
Is love measured only in the size or expense of the material fruits of mankind?
Is there something else being greatly overlooked?
WAIT!
For giving can be one word, can it not?
And is not this day celebrated in honor of the birth of Jesus Christ?
And was it not the purpose of the life of Jesus to show and teach us how to bring forth liberty from sin and redeem our souls through the act of forgiving?
"Forgive our debts, as we forgive our debtors".
Of course!
It is the ultimate act of Grace!
A giving which comes straight from the heart, holds no monetary value, yet brings forth an indebtedness of a joyous nature!
Thank you Father for this invaluable insight!
There is no greater gift of the heart we can give than the gift of forgiveness. It is where true healing begins.
I shall pass this revelation on to the others in your name and encourage the form of giving necessary to bring peace, love and eternal joy to all who practice it.
Now that I have received your answer, I feel no need to send this letter.
You were listening as I was writing, now my name is clarity.
*****
As I said earlier, when I finished this poem in the summer of 2004, what occurred later that year was totally unexpected.
My biological father walked out on my mother and my brothers and I while I was still in diapers. I never heard from him all the while I was growing up. From the stories my mother told about him, I didn't care if I ever met him. My anger and disrespect toward him was ever growing.
It was December 26, 2004. I received a call from my mother who had heard from some unexpected grapevine, that my father had had a heart attack and was in the hospital. Why she thought I should care, I don't know. After she told me that, I felt obliged to go visit him. The hospital he was taken to was only a five minute walk from where I lived at the time. I mulled over the idea all day, and in the evening I decided to go see him.
As I was walking to the hospital, my nerves were on edge and my emotions awry. Will he know who I am? Will I give him another heart attack? God forbid!
I won't go into details about our visit except to say it was a good one. He was surprised to see me and at first we were both felling awkward, but as the visit progressed we relaxed and fell into conversation about his mother, who I was named after. Our visit lasted about an hour and a half that night. The next day I went back to see him again and this time I took my 16 year old daughter with me.
He was discharged from hospital on December 29, and went back to home in another town. We kept in touch after that and I even spent one year living in his hometown so as to get to know him better. I let go of the anger I felt toward him as I could see that he realises the mistakes he made in life and is regretting them now.
I know that I will probably never have a close, father/daughter relationship with him, but this forgiving experience was truly liberating, for me at least. It was definitely a weight lifted.
The amazing was this;
The town where my father lives has a hospital fully equipped with the latest in medical technology. Yet, he was "air-lifted" from his home town to a hospital 80 miles away in the city, and only a five minute walk from my apartment! Not only was I given the opportunity to "forgive" my father, (the one person who needed it the most), but I was given the chance to do it in person, and it occurred right at Christmas! Any other way would have been impossible.
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