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NOTE TO MY CHILDREN ON FATHER'S DAY
On fathers day I find myself musing about what it means to be your father.
What is means to have brought you into this world.
I certainly have not been the perfect father and in some ways I have failed all of you .
But in many other ways I have been the perfect father in sharing the gift of myself along with my challenges and triumphs and, as such, inspiring you with my inner directed intention and purpose.
You all truly know me ~ and that is an accomplishment in itself.
You are all adults now and I can really enjoy and appreciate your separate paths ~ along with your challenges and triumphs as you seek to find your own inner directed intention and purpose.
As I get older I begin to more fully understand and celebrate, as a father, what Kahlil Gibran wrote about children in THE PROPHET;
Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you yet they belong not to you.
You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with his might that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies,
so He loves also the bow that is stable.
So this father's day, I realize how blessed I am to have sent forth four living arrows ~ who have also sent forth five living arrows.
The bow that sent you forth has wanted nothing less for you than the same joy, intention and purpose that I have found deepest within myself.
As I have grown in self acceptance and compassion ~ I actually find it easy to accept and celebrate your mistakes and triumphs on your separate paths towards inner peace and self realization.
As such, this father's day my heart is now filled with humbleness and gratefulness for the privilege and honor of being your father.
Allen L Roland | 
