Celebrating My Roots ~ My Dad

We all have roots.   The roots of our lives serve as a foundation in the people we have become, and contribute to where we want to be.

My dad has been a big part of my roots.   Today he celebrates his birthday, and I celebrate what he has given me.  Caring, loving, and gives his heart to every person he comes across.  He leads with his heart.    In the storms in our life, he has always tried to navigate through by looking at the positive, and putting one foot in front of the other.

Family and helping others is the center of his life.   That is what my dad has passed onto me.

My dad loves with his heart and soul.  

We love people, we love meeting them, learning about them, and lending a hand where we can.  You may call this aspect of our personalities  – wearing our hearts on our sleeves.  Many see this as a weakness, but I would argue it is an amazing strength.   It is the foundation that has helped us build relationships, and expect nothing in return.

 

This is a foundation of strength and love.

My dad taught me how to live, love, fall and get back up.   He also taught me that it is ok to wear your heart on your sleeve, because chances are if you do, many will love you back in the same way. What you put out there comes back full circle.

Thank-you God for my dad, that has contributed to my roots and the love in my life.   Happy Birthday Dad!!

Love One Another

 

We are asked to love one another…

Sometimes it is hard to love one another isn’t it?   Life gets messy, people are emotional, stuff happens.

But we are asked to respond in love.     Before we can do this, we must love ourselves.   Some may be thinking, I already love myself, its simple.   But do you really love yourself from the inside out?

I believe that in order for us to love ourselves, we must nurture ourselves and not look to external means for validation.   Here are a few questions to ask yourself:

• Do you ever feel envy?

• Do you ever feel jealous?

If you answered yes to one of these questions, then perhaps you need to investigate the why.

It has taken me most of my life to love myself.   I often wondered why this was.   But as I look back, I know that when I looked in the mirror I did not see beauty.   I saw a blank face staring back at me.   I know that it came from believing what others said about me, in my youth and childhood I was bullied.   I would never change that experience for anything in the world, because every moment helps us become who we were meant to be.     Letting go of the external validation was such a big step for me, and not being critical of myself or others was a leap.

Here’s the thing, when we are critical of others, it is simply a reflection of ourselves.   What do you see when you are looking in the mirror?

Really look to understand the why’s ….

I am so thankful for the love of family.   This is something that has carried me through over the years.   For me the definition of family are those that love you unconditionally.    

Today I celebrate my parents 40^th anniversary, quite a milestone these days.     What have I learned about my messy life, and sometimes messy family?   We love one another with our whole hearts, and although we may not agree and often have fiery conversations, what you see is what you get.     I was reflecting this morning on how we got through all of the difficult times together, and realized it was through our love for one another.   Every difficult time allowed us to discover something about each other.   Love carried us through.  

I am so thankful for the love my parents show to us.   My mom is the kind of women that shows strength in all she does, and at times will sacrifice and go without to extend the hand.   She is the kind of lady that “what you see is what you get”, and does not sugar coat.   I am thankful for this, because I am pretty much the same that way.   I have realized honesty is always the best policy and although some people may not like it, but this is who I am . Both of my parents are hugely compassionate, they would do anything for a friend or someone they love. I am so thankful for this, and although I wear my heart on my sleeve, anyone that knows me, knows I would go to battle for them.   My dad has a heart of gold, he wants to help and lift up.   He likes to focus on the positive and balances my mom’s pessimism at times.   He wants to let go of the past, and move forward onto the future.     Letting go is something huge – a lot of us carry too much weight…. This holds us back from being all we can be.   One of the biggest things I have learnt from my dad is forgiveness.   My dad has forgiven always, and immolated this.   I have a bit of a problem with forgiving quickly, but I truly believe this is why my dad is always smiling.   Although the years show on his face, the lines show happiness. My dad’s strengths can sometimes be my mom’s weaknesses and the opposite is true as well. This is why they balance each other so well.

Love one another.

Love has carried me through the good, the bad and the ugly.

I am thankful for the love that made us strong. I am thankful for love that is unconditional.

Loving yourself is always the biggest step forward.   And if you are fortunate enough to find someone to share this life with, likely their strengths are your weaknesses. Remember that we were brought together for a reason. Appreciate all those that have been brought into your life. When I look in my husbands’ eyes, I know he was perfectly made for me.  

Love one another as you would love yourself.   In the good, the bad, and the ugly, ask yourself if you can show love first. It has ripple effects.

May you be blessed today, who can you show some love to today?

Ness

 

A Man Who Loves So Much – My Dad

My dad…. Caring, loving, and gives his heart to every person he comes across.  He leads with his heart.    Over the years, as a family we have endured pain, but something always shines through – the love.

Family is everything…  That is what my dad has taught me.    My dad grew up with a single mom, he lost his father when he was 5 years old.  It is hard to imagine losing a father that young – the same age as my son Marcus.   Yet even though he went through this, he has become such an amazing father and granddaddy to his grandkids.

My dad loves with his heart and soul.  

Thankful for it too….   He has passed it onto me too.    We love people, we love meeting them, learning about them, and helping them.    Although there have been times in my life where I have crawled into my shell, the core of me was always there.    I am so thankful to see this characteristic in my dad, and thankful he has passed it down to me.

My dad does everything he can for his family/friends and never asks for anything in return.   Over these past two years we have had some storms really hit us….

But I am so very thankful for the storms because there is always a rainbow after the rain. 

The other day my dad saw this photo at the cabin:

There is no coincidence he witnessed it.  First of all, a rainbow signifies God’s promise to us – He will never flood the earth again…. But this picture, it has such significance to me.    A picture always has come into my mind over these past two years similar to this – a strong tree with a rainbow in the distance.  I have used this picture on the broken neck survivor support page on facebook, and then had a dear friend paint the picture for me in my house.

What it means to me is that although the storms of life come full force, God weathers the storm, He brings strength to the Tree (me and you) and there is always a rainbow after the rain.   There is always hope, love, and goodness to follow.   Always….

On this day, I truly believe God was saying to my dad “It will be ok son, goodness is going to come”.   It is no secret that my dear mother has had her struggle this past year – her large intestine being removed, almost losing her life after surgery, and having a ostomy, and just before the reconnection surgery finding out that she had breast cancer.   While it has been very difficult on her, there have been times where my dad has felt so helpless.   He internalizes – much like my brother, husband, and father in law…. Maybe it is a dad thing?  I don’t know.  But in those times, I know God was holding him, and helping me support him too.     So when dad saw this tree and rainbow the other day – I truly believe in my heart God was trying to reassure him.

Mom then  came outside to see and was completely amazed.  I asked her when she posted the photo on facebook – “what did you think of when you saw the rainbow and tree” and she said

“Dad saw it first, it’s beautiful,with promise for the future”.

Yes promise… for the future…. We don’t know exactly what that future holds but one thing is for sure – God is there and carrying us through.   He is reassuring us of that.

On fathers day this Sunday, I feel so very blessed.    I am so thankful for a dad that has always been there for me, supported me, saved me from myself, and was/is always my number one cheerleader.   I am sure that Jared feels exactly the same so I am saying this for both of us!

Here’s to you dad – We love you so much you fly high in the sky 🙂

My dad taught me how to live, love, fall and get back up.   He also taught me that it is ok to wear your heart on your sleeve, because chances are if you do, many will love you back in the same way. ~miss muffet