As some of you know, Griffin was in rehab for alcoholism when he collapsed on Monday, February 24th. It was a long road to get Griffin to treatment. There were bumps, bruises and heartbreaks. The night before we were going to drive Griffin to rehab, he chose to consume a bottle of cooking wine he found in the garage pantry. It convinced us of two things: 1) Griffin's problems were bigger than us; and 2) he needed to be in charge of his path to recovery.
So we chose not to drive him. We had him order himself an Lyft instead. As he rode in the back of the Lyft, here's what I wrote him. There may be something here for you. Or maybe not.
Read this on your Lyft ride to Ridgeview.
A Message To My Son,
I love you. You must love yourself. And to love yourself you must love not only the parts of yourself that are wonderful (your wit, your laugh, your love for others, your determination) but you must also love your failings, your sin (the times you’ve given up, have slept till noon, have failed, have gotten drunk, gotten angry).
You must love all of yourself because you’re going to fail. We all do. “All fall short of the glory of God.” And to hate the falling is to hate yourself. I’m not saying to revel in your failings or to use them as an excuse to fail further. But you must love them because they are a part of you.
This is the beginning of wholeness and self-forgiveness.I love you. You must love yourself. And to love yourself you must love not only the parts of yourself that are wonderful (your wit, your laugh, your love for others, your determination) but you must also love your failings, your sin (the times you’ve given up, have slept, have failed, have gotten drunk, gotten angry). You must love all of yourself because you’re going to fail. We all do. “All fall short of the glory of God.” And to hate the falling is to hate yourself. I’m not saying to revel in your failings or to use them as an excuse to fail further. But you must love them because they are a part of you. This is the beginning of wholeness and self-forgiveness. To My Son,Message To My Son, Message To My Son,
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Definitely plenty I can relate to in there as well. Our problem is we think everyone has it better than us. Trying to keep up with the Jones' only leads to competing with the Smith's, Nguyen's, Chang's, Patel's...
ReplyDeleteYour bottom line is spot on; be your best self today and don't worry about yesterday.