Freedom to Love: Give Your Dad the Best Gift Ever this Father’s Day

Every child wants to say “Dad, I love you.” No doubt, no matter how old you are right now, you still yearn to say these four beautiful healing words, “Dad, I love you”.

Unfortunately, many of us wait till it is too late to express our gratitude and love to our fathers.

Many of us never even manage to express how we really feel deep in our heart to our fathers before they leave the earth. It is a painful human experience to live with regrets. Regret is like a hole in your heart that can never be filled.

This Father’s Day, give your Dad the best gift ever—Your love, support, understanding and acceptance.

Your Dad does not need another bottle of aftershave or another bottle of alcohol, but he does need to feel closer to your Mum, he does need to make peace with a friend whom he had a fallout with, he does need to say “ I forgive you and I love you” to his own Dad before it is too late. He does long to hold you and hug you and say “I love you, please forgive me” to you.

Don’t let this Father’s Day pass by without making the effort to help your father find deeper peace. You owe it to yourself and to your mother to embrace your Dad for who he is.

On the surface, your Dad may be a drunkard, a gambler, a struggling businessman, but deep down, he suffers, he struggles with his own inner demon; he is haunted by his fear of not being good enough; he is defeated by the shadow of the greatness of his own father.

Have you ever looked your Dad in the eyes and felt his pain? Have you ever hold him close to your heart and told him “You don’t have to be perfect Dad, I accept you and love you just as you are”?

To you who are reading this post, you have a father; you may be a father or a father to be. Whoever you are, remember this, be kind to your father, so your children can be kind to you. Forgive your father, so your children can forgive you; love your father, so your children can love you. The chain of love is built with acceptance and forgiveness. The strongest family is not the family who has no problems, but the family who rises above all difficulties and love each other through the process.

On this Father’s Day, give your father the best gift ever — help him heal his heart. Tell him you are grateful for him. If your father used to beat you, abuse you, belittle you, thank him for offering you an opportunity to become a better person of your own choice. If you find yourself turning out to be like your abusive Dad, stop behaving like him, and make some different choices today. The chain of suffering can only be broken by your decision to become a better man. When you make a better choice today, you change your future and the future of your children.

One harsh thing I have learnt about life is just how fast it goes by and vanishes in front of my very eyes. You don’t have forever to make peace with those you care about , and the so called tomorrow will never come if you don’t do it today. When you finally feel it is the right time to make peace with your father, it may well be too late, he may be at his death bed. Please don’t suffer this unnecessary regret. Make peace with your father and help him make peace with himself now, not tomorrow, not next week, not when he is dying, but now!

Why?

Because when you make peace with each other, you give him and yourself the greatest gift of all — the freedom to love.