I Give Thanks Anyway
My father ripped my roots apart before
I had even been planted
and then he tried to bury me in his hopelessness...
but I give thanks anyway.
My father planted shame within my heart,
causing me to forget my innocence...
but I give thanks anyway.
I give thanks because his actions required me to become light,
they required me to become strong.
I give thanks because his actions required me to rebuild myself in my own image,
for they set me on a never-ending scavenger hunt for all the missing beautiful parts of me.
I thank my father for teaching me how to rebuild my roots.
I thank my father for teaching me the importance of self-love.
I thank him for teaching me how to rebuild my sense of self.
I thank him for teaching me how to rebuild a faulty foundation
by cultivating self-trust, by cultivating faith,
by leaning on the power of the Universe.
I thank him for requiring me to seek an unconditionally loving parent in a God I had ceased to believe in.
I thank him for requiring me to earnestly seek my own inner strength, my own inner light.
I thank him for requiring me to find my own path to wholeness,
to innocence,
to profound peace
by seeking and reclaiming all the missing beautiful parts of me.
I express deep gratitude for his soul's choice to spend a lifetime in chains in order to teach me how to break free...
and how to become unbreakable.
The foundation I rebuild will be immune to earthquakes.
The faith I rebuild will be immune chaos, immune to entropy.
The form of self-love I cultivate will no longer believe in the value of people-pleasing,
will no longer believe in the value of an inferiority complex.
I will have an unshakeable sense of self after reclaiming all the missing, beautiful parts of me.
I had to become the fire that kept me warm.
I had to become the light to see where my feet met the path.
I had to become the peace that could comfort my heart.
I had to become the love that could replenish my peace.
I had to become the grace that could save my soul.
