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an open letter
to my son, on his turning,
like a fall leaf, one:
—
"You are our epistle...
known and read by all men."
2 Corinthians 3:2
—
I love you, and this love compels me to write words to you that you will not understand, in full, for a long time. Speaking of words, you already know a few — Mama, Dada and book. Before long, you'll know a lot more.
There's one book which you really ought to know, and that's the bible. There is no other book like it. You will certainly understand parts of it before your next birthday, but you will just as certainly spend the rest of your life in an effort to grasp its immense message. Right now I do my best to keep the bible out of your hands because you would rip it to shreds if I let you have it. This will change before long though, and when the day comes to place its pages into your eager palms, you will be hard-pressed to find a happier man than me on the entire planet.
I want you to recall your mind frequently the meaning of your names — Malachi: My Messenger, and Christopher: The Christ Bearer. You are being entrusted with a message of unfathomable value. You like milk, right? Well, the message of the bible is like milk for the crying world you've been living in for the past year. Without it, everyone is sad and will soon die. It's a wonder that God leaves anything at all in our hands, let alone something as important as feeding a starving world. But He does. I don't know why, but He does. We just have to trust that He knows what He's doing.
Regarding this milk — this message — your lips, like the rest of you, belong to God. This is why they need to be devoted to his praise. Sometimes, when telling people about God and the bible, people will applaud you for telling the truth. Other times you will be insulted or ignored for being narrow-minded, obtuse or deluded. If my experience is any measure of what you can expect, most of the time you will feel as though nobody is even listening to you. But be strong in the knowledge that God's approval is all, and that man's opinion is of no account in the cosmic scheme of things. Your earthly father has a difficult time keeping this great truth in view but, with your Heavenly Father's help, even he will grow to be an excellent example to you of courage in the face of worldly opposition and apathy—and of humility in the face of human approval.
(I know that you fall down a lot. Sometimes you even fall on your face! But you're much better at walking now than you were even a month ago, aren't you? Well, in many ways, that's what you can expect for the rest of your life. Your daddy has fallen down lots of times. He still falls down—every day he falls down! But you know what? Your daddy has found that when he falls on his face, that's really a pretty good place for him to be! It's actually easier to talk to God when you're on your face, and God has always picked your daddy up and set him back on his feet when he falls. What I'm trying to say is that it's okay to make mistakes, especially when you make them while trying to please the God who made you. A very wise man had this to say about mistakes: "Be a sinner, and sin boldly, but let your trust in Christ be bolder still." Also, a poet summarized well what I mean to impress on you when he wrote this: "To err is human; to forgive, divine." As future seasons pass, experience will teach you these things with increasing clarity.)
Lastly, love God and love others with every faculty in your possession, pointing always to the Lamb of God in all that you say and do, and you will be a true success. Fail to do this, and no matter how materially accomplished you are, you will discover at the end of your days that you have achieved nothing at all of lasting value. Having said that though, you need to know, Kai, that even if your total life were counted by God to be dross, by His grace I would still love you like gold with my total self until my dying breath.
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