Dad,
Today I sat behind you in Ephesus, Turkey, while you gave a lecture to a few hundred people who had traveled from all over the world to hear you speak. I was overcome with emotion as I saw you standing there, fulfilling your dharma while touching the lives of so many. I know you as my father, but you have always been a teacher to me as well. You have taught me that the solutions to all of life’s problems are inside of me, and that I only had to go within, be silent and present, and know that all is well.
You never told me how to live or what to think or what to believe in. Instead, you showed me how to make each step a prayer and each word a word of love. You taught me to believe in magic and miracles, and you showed me how to be in awe of the awesome world we live in.
Since the time I was brought into this world, I knew that I was safe to be exactly as I was, and that whoever I was, I was a perfect creation of God. You told me that I was God, and that it was God that looks out from behind my eyes. I learned from you that I was master of my own fate, the creator of my destiny.
Of all the lessons I have learned, the thing that hit me hardest was when you said that I am God. Could I really be a spark of God, a perfect creation put here on Earth with a purpose? You say this all the time, but I have always struggled with it, especially since school and society were telling me otherwise. I doubted myself, felt inferior, and worried that I needed to apologize to someone for even contemplating this idea. I have felt unworthy, undeserved, and unsure. Although you gave me great tools, I still had to figure out how to use them on my own. Now I understand that God is love, God is beauty, and God is truth. You told me I came from an infinite space of perfection and that I will return to it one day, too. Slowly I am beginning to understand.
People love you so much and yet to me you have always been Dad. You drove me to school each morning, you taught me how to swim and ride a bike, you read me stories, and you came to all my plays. As I have grown, you have encouraged me to follow my dharma and go after whatever it is that excites me. You believe in me, Dad, and I love you so much for that.
What do you say to someone who gave you life and then showed you how to live it?
You say thank you, thank you, thank you.
Serena
this gift
By Alex Woodard
first steps walking
first words talking
those times i don't recall
every stage at
every play i know
you were there for them all
and i know sometimes
people thank you
for God's gift you showed they had
but this time
i want to thank you
for this gift of being my dad
as i got older
if dreams would smolder
you helped bring back the fire
to warm my cold night
through the firelight
my spark of God flew higher
i know sometimes
people thank you
for God's gift you showed they had
but this time
i want to thank you
for this gift of being my dad
i know as time goes by
you will be watching
from my first steps
to my last
but they won't be our last
because we together
walk forever
now from future into past
so i love that
people thank you
for God's gift you showed they had
but this time
i want to thank you
i want to thank you
i love you dad