Friday, October 11, 2013

The Most Important Things

To my son Tommy,

Every day of our lives, we tend to put importance on so many things.  We focus in on what we have to do and what we should do and what we can't do, and in the process we miss the more important things in life.  When something big comes around and makes us focus less on the mundane we should remember these three important things.

  • You are alive.
    • I guess this is the most important thing.  No matter how bad things seem, your life is still a treasured gift that you should cherish.  All other possibilities start from here.
  • You are loved.
    • Look around you and you will see love.  Even in the direst situations, even when it seems too dark to see, love is there.  You'll find it in your family and your friends and, of course, God.  There are times when you will feel alone and that you have been abandoned by God and your loved ones, but the love is still there.  Often when you feel that way, you will come to realize that you didn't want to see the love or feel the love or accept it.  Open your heart and love will come to you simply because you are alive.
  • You can change.
    • There is always a new day dawning with a new beginning.  Simply by being alive, you have the opportunity to seek forgiveness, to seek love, to seek a better life.  You can scrap everything and start over if you need to.  Even those things you have been trying to do, trying to change unsuccessfully, each day gives you an opportunity to whittle away at the problem until one day you will triumph.  Some times things happen that might seem out of your control, but something truly unchangeable is rare and you still retain the power to change how you will deal with it.  You have all this power to change things simply because you are alive.
With these three thoughts in your mind, there isn't anything that we can't figure out.  Armed with this perspective we can attack even the scariest problems in our lives.

Sincerely with love from your dad,
Leo

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