SOME QUESTIONS THAT CAME....

Just this morning, as I came out from the meeting where I had spoken at, this lady with tears in her eyes came up to me and said, "You spoke about your estrangement from your father for 17 years where you did not interact with him because of what had happened when you were young." Then she added in a hoarse whisper, "I have never known what a father's love is; I have never had someone called a father hug me and say how he loves me. He passed away a long time ago....." and then her voice trailed off. Then she said, "This morning as you spoke, I just felt such an emptiness in my heart. Can you tell me how I can fill this void in my life?"

I was speechless for a while and my heart went out to her. She was probably more than 60 years old and all this while, she had longed for a loving touch from a father but had never found it. As I looked back to my life where I too missed my father's love for so many years, I knew the answer in her case cannot be one laced with reason and rationale. When I was at my lowest moment looking for an answer, I found it when I turned to God and pleaded with him to help me understand why I could not have my actual father embrace me with his love. It was at such a time of desolation and "aloneness" that I said, "God, if you are really that God of love whom people tell me you are, then touch me now and let me feel your love.

As I said that, I felt a sudden touch of compassion and love that I had never felt before. It was like a powerful gust of wind that came and not only refreshed me, but also enveloped me with its light and its rays. I felt loved that day like never before. I knew then that this is the answer to what I have missed in the absence of my earthly father's love. As I turned to that tear-stained lady, I said softly, "You will find your answer if you turn to the one who has loved you with an everlasting love." With a slight twinge on her face, she replied and said, "I know. It was just that I needed you to confirm it for me." Then she smiled as the tears dried on her face.....