Dear Teenager,

    You who wander in your maze of frustration and doubt.

    Adult child, scurrying through the dark cavern of your uncertainty, exploring the shadows. 

    Pursuing the distant images that are your dreams. 

    Pursued by the dark raven of your fears.

    How do I reach you across the barrier of time, the wide river between where you are and where I've been?

    You are filled with all the energies and uncertainties of your youth. 

    I am filled with the experiences of my age. 

    I look back to you down the road of life and cry out, "take my hand, I know the way". 

    You look to me an cry, "No.  You don't understand." 

    There is no room within you for the knowledge from my passage down the same dark road you now must travel.  The great lie of generations has been passed on once again.  "I am too unique, my problems are too different from those that you once faced.  How could I ever profit from anything that you could say?"

    And I scream out my frustration to the stars.  "Don't understand!"

    And then I recall how I refused what those who preceded me once offered.  How very much like the me of my youth you are.  How I wish I could protect you from the things that are to come.  But I can't.  For the only lessons truly learned are those that the hard teacher of life will give you.  Experience has never come from words.  Maturity has never flowered from the mere seeds of ideas heard.

    And in my discovery of that age old truth, the God who is my strength and my protector, whispers in my ear, "The child is Mine.  Let Me be the guide.  You, for all that time and I have taught you cannot be the source of all the child will need in this life.  Only I can be that.  Leave them in My hands.  I only require of you to give this child My love.  And in the love you give, the child will discover Me.  For I am love."

    Forgive me, dear child of God, for trying to be more than I was meant to be.  You must bear the standard of your youth; wage your wars and earn your own victories.  But when the battles are too much for you; when you feel ready to retreat; let me help you.  Help you out of all the love that God has given me for you.  A brief safe haven from the raging war of life.  A short respite from your striving.  If I can't be your champion then let me be your page.  I will bind your wounds, shine up your armor, repair your weapons and watch over you until your time to go has come.

    I will release you when there are more battles to be won. 

    And I will wait.  Just as God has always loved and waited for me.  He is the one who truly is your champion and much more.  The one who has been and will always be with you, no matter where the ebb and flow of life may take you.

    And I will always be here  -  waiting  -  till I am needed.

                                                                                                                    Love always,

                                                                                                                          Dad