I kept gazing yesterday at daybreak on the hill a kilometre beyond our cottage. It was drizzling and the sight had two distinct appearances. The first layer of trees looked l bright and the second layer of trees on the hill beyond the valley looked covered by the humid air. The sky was overcast. The dim sunlight gradually brightened up the valley.
That is when I remembered that the day was celebrated as 'Fathers' day'. Anna I have been married for forty-five years. That decision created a companionship and journey into intimacy which has made all the difference in our lives. We travelled together in this path of exploring the depth of intimacy to the extent it is humanly possible and both of us have grown because of that trustful self disclosure and growing dependence on each other. We have given and received, which made us richer and larger in our fondness for each other.
Anna and I feel blessed to have been given three children. Arpit, Anita and Anandit. Anita travelled back to her eternal home when she was just a few months old following a brief illness. It was her coming and going which gave us our vocation. The formation of the charity ASHIRVAD, and all that happened in Child Development initiatives at Chennai, Nagpur, Vellore, Pondicherry and Kolenchery originated from the message Anita left with us during her brief time with us.
Arpit and Amy and Anandit and Aswathy and the five children between them are the blessings that Anna and I cherish and celebrate now. They have become the joy and hope in our lives. They live their lives in ways which make us feel abundantly glad. They choose wisely and circumspectly. They reach out to others in ways which make a difference in the lives of others.
Amy and Aswathy are remarkable women of humility, kindness, creativity and fortitude. They have become wives with utmost commitment to their husbands and mothers with abundance of love towards their children. It was lovely to hear from each of them yesterday and their offering of love on Father's Day. To know them as they are and live connected with their journey experiences is God's favour towards and Anna and myself. All four of them are in the prime of life and consistently choose wisely to live responsibly before God. They keep others and their needs close to their hearts, which bring immense delight to us. The five grandchildren add colour and joy to our lives. They are children who reflect joyfulness and learning instinct in their lives.
Anna and I feel grateful to Amy's parents and Aswathy's parents for who they have been to them during their growing up years, because of which both of them are women of much grace and cheer.
A father is a man and a husband, who later becomes a parent. Father is a co-parent. It is the mother who makes the fatherhood complete. It is the mother who turns the house in to a home. I feel immensely grateful to Anna who has been at the centre of all the happenings in my life.
These were the dominant thoughts yesterday morning as I kept gazing at the hill and the valley from our courtyard.
It is the psalmist who gives us a vision about the hill. 'I will lift up my eyes to the mountains, from whence shall my help come?'(Psalm. 121:1). He then concluded, 'My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth'!
My help comes from God to be a father. My faults are many in being a husband and father. I am aware of some of them and it is this consciousness which turns me to God for help. To flee from self and live mindfully of the needs and aspirations of the family is a calling to which I offer myself on this Father's Day.
M.C.Mathew(text and photo)
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