My son celebrated his 18th birthday tonight.
In attendance were my wife, my daughter and 30 of the kids from his drug treatment program. Not exactly the white picket fence idea that you dream of when getting started as a father but let me tell you, it was the perfect celebration as it represented so much more than a birthday. It was a celebration of sobriety…a celebration of the journey from conflict to peace…a celebration of hope.
I decided to stoke the coals in the firepit after the kids adjourned to someone else’s house to crash for the evening and as I sat there, I recalled the place that we were in just 8 months earlier. We had a serious fracture in our family dynamic…a cancerous tumor festering in our hearts toward one another (especially stepfather to stepson), the cause of which was not one or two specific events but rather years of conditional love and lofty expectations. Expectations that were unnecessarily heaped on a confused young boy who desparately needed to be loved and accepted for who he was…not who I wanted him to be.
It’s hard to see the progress at times but considering the lingering effects of last night, it isnt difficult to relish this new place we are in. You see, I had a difficult evening yesterday (the details of which are in a previous blog) but suffice it to say that unfortunately, my son bears the scars from several barbs that I threw his way. What was different this time is that instead of selfishly allowing them to fester…languishing in a place of self-righteousness, I called him to apologize and repent for my wrongdoing and in doing so, allowed God to move in the midst of that sin to effect some healing.
The act of repenting and asking forgiveness from the one you have wronged is one of the most powerful things in the Kingdom of God. It has profound effects on both parties through some kind of spiritual exchange that we will never fully understand this side of Heaven.
So…as I pour water on the coals and head off to slumber, my heart is thankful for the difficult times and how God loves to show up in these situations to be the Hero that is truly is.
Filed under: Forgiveness, Freedom in Christ, Joy | Tagged: birthday, celebration, Forgiveness, healing, Jesus, thankfulness
