Dad's birthday falls on this coming weekend. But due to the fact that I've worship practices on Saturday nights and Dad would not be around, we celebrated his birthday as a family last Sunday.
It was not that I had anything against Dad, but being around Dad is hard. Dad's blunt and domineering, and it's a fact that many of my friends would rather stay away from my house lest they get a lecture from Dad. Needless to say, Dad intimidates the people from coming or visiting.
Thus, trouble began to boil when we were on the way to Serdang. Dad, as his usual self, was being blunt and domineering and really made me and Kevin (my brother) on the defensive side. Then again, he did try to crack a few jokes, but they were quite offensive in nature that it was much easier to drive the car in silence than to talk to Dad. And the silence carried on even at the restaurant itself.
It was then that I began to notice Dad looked sad and lost. And looking at Dad through the eyes of Christ, Dad suddenly looked like a different person altogether.
So what if Dad's blunt and domineering? It was Dad's birthday and clearly we've been making Dad sad with our cold response to him. So what if it was hard to get along with Dad? After all, there he was, working hard for the family to ensure we have enough to spend and no doubt, beneath Dad's nagging and bluntness, Dad loved us all.
I used to blame Dad for whatever's wrong in my life. Dad was never around, always working and our family was really poor. But did that matter now? Dad deserved our respect as sons. No doubt he could have done better and made better decisions, but then it's already all in the past. And to think of it, here I was trying to serve God more but I couldn't even show Dad the love of Christ in me. And Dad hasn't been to church for almost a decade.... *sigh*
God help me be a better son and learn to love and respect my Dad. Amen.
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