A young father-to-be was pacing back and forth, wringing his hands in the hospital corridor while his wife was in labor. His stomach was tied up in knots of fear and anxiety. Beads of perspiration were dripping from his brow.
Finally at 4:00 AM a nurse popped out of the delivery room and announced, “Congratulations, Sir! You now have a beautiful little daughter!” He dropped his hands and became limp as he blurted out: “Oh, thank God, it’s a girl! She’ll never have to go through the agony I’ve had to go through tonight!”
Myopic!! This father surely suffered from myopia – nearsightedness. Didn’t he have the slightest idea of what his wife was going through in labor?
Don’t we all suffer from myopia until we change our location? When we visit or are a patient in a hospital or a nursing home we often say: “Boy I don’t have it so bad after all, compared to some of the other people around me.”
I know I suffered from myopia until I went to Haiti and visited the materially poor who only earn a dollar or two a day. I realized that a third of the people on earth are in a similar situation, only able to earn a dollar or two a day no matter how hard they try.
Too often you and I suffer from myopia when we look at the men and fathers in our lives. Many are quiet, strong men who seemingly can handle anything that comes their way. But can they??
This story inspires me to reach out to fathers, especially fathers who are hurting and in great need of care and support……
I drive Uber for a living. Usually, people just stare at their phones. Last night was different. I picked up a passenger at the Emergency Room entrance. He slid into the backseat and slumped against the door.
I looked in the mirror. He wasn’t on his phone. He was weeping. Shoulders shaking, silent tears. I turned the music off. “You doing okay back there?” I asked.
He took a deep, shaky breath. “My wife passed away an hour ago. I have to go home and tell our children.” My stomach dropped. I pulled the car over. I canceled the ride on my phone.
“We aren’t going home yet,” I told him. “What?” he asked, wiping his eyes.
“You can’t walk in the door like this,” I said. “You need a minute.” I drove him to a dark spot by the lake. I put it in park. “Take your time,” I said. I stepped out of the car to give him privacy.
I heard him scream. I heard him hit the seat. I let him get all that anger and pain out of his system. Thirty minutes later, he rolled down the window. He looked exhausted, but he had stopped crying. “I’m ready,” he nodded.
I drove him to his driveway. He tried to hand me a fifty. “No,” I said. “Order takeout for the kids. Don’t worry about cooking.”
He looked at me. “Thank you. I needed to fall apart so I could hold it together for them.”
Sometimes the best route isn’t the fastest one.
Jesus says, “Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give.” I like to rephrase these words of Jesus: “What you have been given as a gift, now give as a gift.” I say this to myself many times every day! “Laz, what you have been given as a gift, now give as a gift.”
That’s what fathers do every day, and this “Father” who has been called “Father” for 57 years as a priest has a lot of gifts still to give.
A Happy and a Blessed Father’s Day to all Dads, Step-Dads, Grand Dads and all the other Special Men in our life who have helped us to be the persons we are today.
Please offer a special prayer for YOUR father today, whether he is living or deceased….and all the other Special Men in your life.
BE WHO GOD WANTS YOU TO BE, NOT WHAT OTHERS WANT TO SEE!!
I hope you heard a great homily at church today. I’m sharing mine with you today. This Father’s Day is a great day to tell someone new about Treats for the Soul — www.TreatsfortheSoul.org. Day in and day out – there is much to think about that social media is not giving us. And be sure to listen to my daily Podcast. Over 115,000 people have listened.
