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Why I love LighthousesAt my first encounter with the lighthouse of Sabine Pass I was taken back by it's beauty, granduer and strength. Even though the paint was all but faded away, the stairs are rusted, the support buildings burned away, something about it touched me deep inside. Over the next week I pondered this feeling that came over me and wondered where this association I felt came from. I felt attached and it was as if I knew the feelings of this once majestic beacon, if it had a soul with which to feel. It wasn't until I reflected upon my life as a father that I realized the kinship my subconcious had found. As I wrestled with the expression of these feelings I decided to create the following bit of prose: |
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Dad's Lighthouseshining bright it's beam of assurance. A majestic tower of strength and calm, that guides the way for the weary. Standing proudly and watching them leave, the childern of the port headed out to sea. Knowing the trials that lay instore, bids them farewell and waits their return. Storms of time have taken their toll, on an exterior that faded and tough. Inside this frame that's weakend by time, the security of a love for those away. The children return looking for home, look up to his beacon of accepting love. His light shines bright to bring them home, pure is his love for all who's astray. Standing there on the brink of calm, this bastion of strength isn't really alone. For keeping him fed with love and joy, a keeper lives there within his heart. There's more than one that helps to support, and upon their care he draws his strength. A keeper to smooth out the marks of the storms, and a Lord to watch over this family of love. A lighthouse is the Dad I want to be, with the love a keeper found in Thee. Rusty Key October 2001 |
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I realized that a good father could be liken to a lighthouse. Standing strong against the tides of change, time's eroding effect and the brutal forces of the storms of life. Watching your children come and go out into life, always standing strong willing to guide them home. But there's a misconception that I had to address. For the lighthouse doesn't really stand alone, there's a keeper that through their love alone, helps to keep the lighthouse shining bright. But even when the keeper is missing, the lighthouse still stands guarding and waiting. It may not shine as bright, but still, it's there and the children know they can always return guided by his light of love. I hope I've shown you a new way to look at these timeless guardians of our past and given you some insight into my way of viewing the world. So the next time you see a lighthouse, be it weathered and torn or shiney and new, remember these thoughts and strive to reach the lofty goals established by the lighthouses of our shores. Remember too, those people in your life who have given themselves to be a bastion of courge, strenth, love and forgiveness. Thanks Mom and Dad. |
