My Dad died on this date (December 13) 41 years ago. It took me many years to resolve my relationship with him, see him for what he was, good and not so good. It was difficult to see or feel his Divine Self, as he struggled so much with his human self. He found it difficult to love himself, and thus love others. And in a weird way, that taught me a lot about Love. It took decades for me to have compassion for him, and of course, that happened after I finally had compassion for myself and our very complex relationship.
My Dad was Jewish and my mom was Catholic. Neither of them practiced their religions or spoke of spiritual matters, but my Dad insisted we practice something . . . so my mom took us to church. Even though I left the Catholic Church in my teens, his insistence on some practice turned out to be a great gift to me. Not for the religion, but for the practice of contemplation which led me to the awareness of Love and the experience of it beyond our human realm – which I found woefully lacking in Love.
So on this day, I am finally able to have love and compassion and gratitude for this very flawed human who agreed to be my father in this lifetime and help me learn about Love. I trust he now knows the Divine Love he always was.