Fathers and the Father

bluebird: "Actually, almost everything I ever said to my father fell on deaf ears, but that’s another story."

And a sad one you've mentioned before. My sympathies, and prayers for you.

Mortal fathers are supposed to be the ones who are the first representatives, to mortal children, of the immortal Father in Heaven. Fortunately, those whose fathers weren't very representative of the spirit of our First Source can find a way around that, but it's a handicap.

Once in Chicago, Milady and I got a cab ride home. The cabbie was Middle Eastern, but I couldn't say if he was Muzlim. On the way up Lake Shore Drive, we chatted, and I noted the picture on his dashboard of a young boy. He spoke with such pride of his son!

Before we arrived, somehow, talk had turned to belief. He wasn't a believer. I said something (as per my usual spiel) about God being a father. The cabbie grumbled sourly, almost angrily, something to the effect of, "Well, if God is anything like my father…."

As I was paying him off, it struck me to say, "Not like your father, but like the father you want to be to your son."

And he drove off.

We plant seeds. Sometimes we move on before harvest, and only in the life to come will I ever find out if that one moment meant anything to that cabbie. But I was glad for such inSpiration, and that we had seen his love for his own son, on which I could build.