I wish I will grow up to be just like my dad

This is the eighth year of the Gates Family Season of Service, so I think we can be real with one another... There have been times when it has been a real source of frustration. Come on, admit it. We've all had years where we forgot about it until the last week or we were feeling a bit "Bah Humbug." After all, it isn't easy to perform the act of service and then write about it on Christmas Eve after staying up late to prepare for Christmas morning.

I must admit, last year, I allowed myself to begin to consider this service tradition as a chore. I couldn't think of what grand gesture I could do for this Season of Service, but after I prayed to ask for guidance, Ashley and I were inspired to serve one of my sisters in Christ who had become homeless and was struggling. Little did I know then just how much this annual reminder to serve one another by serving others in our lives would touch my heart when I needed it most.

So, as I sit to write this on the afternoon of this Christmas Day of 2017, I am reminded of why this Gates Family Season of Service continues to be a blessing in my life.

Dear Dad,

In this, the most difficult and challenging year of my life, I have been honored and blessed to be serving in honor of you. And yet, I don't feel like I did very much because in every trial of service that I had, you were there to lift my spirits and inspire me to reach a little bit further outside of my comfort zone.

The only way that I have made it through this year was to often ask myself, "What would my Dad do in this situation?" This year, I've begun telling you, mom, and my sisters how as a young boy, every wish I made before blowing out the candles on my birthday cake or biting into a cherry in the fruit cocktail was that I might grow up to be just like my dad. Little did I know the joys - and the struggles - that would come through that transformation.

When we took in three young women as "semi-foster daughters," it seemed like our lives were filled with people telling us we were crazy. But when we just felt like we had to say yes, you and mom were there to call to encourage us, offer to help, and inspire us to continue to serve those three young "refugees" of life. During the most difficult moments, I was inspired by memories of you serving those in our life growing up. It was our honor to provide a safe place for those young women when they had very little on which to base their hope.

This summer, our Father in Heaven opened a door for me to forgive another by delaying our road trip by a day, before pushing me through that door by having us attend church in a ward in rural Virginia, where I needed to right a situation by both forgiving and asking for forgiveness. 

And when my life seemed to be falling apart around me this past month, you were there with a bottle of spiritual glue to help me begin to put it back together. I am so glad Our Heavenly Father inspired Stan to send you back to us a week earlier. The 48 hours you and Mom spent in our home, helped guide us through the mists of darkness and strengthened my grip on the iron rod leading to the tree of life. Thank you for your guidance.

In that time, I believe you taught me the greatest lesson of all... to never stop growing or learning. Your humility in recognizing your weaknesses and striving to make them strengths is what makes you a magnificent tool in the hands of Our Father in Heaven. You continue to raise the bar of which I hope to meet someday. I hope that when I am 72 years old, I will be every bit as focused on spiritual growth and service to my wife, my children, and the rest of God's children as you are today.

Over the past few weeks, there have been many moments in which I have wanted to wither away into nothing, but I have chosen not to because you have given me short, simple instructions on how to get out of the abyss in which I have found myself. It has been my joy and salvation to follow your simple instructions and return and report on the success. Because of you, my life is so very much brighter today.

[To those who are reading, I realize this message has been vague, but I feel constrained to limit the sacred details shared in this format.]

Dad, I want you to know how much I love and appreciate all you have done for our family. As my own children grow, I am constantly realizing just how much you did for us. When I look at my Eddie, I now know what you must have felt looking at me.

I love you so much Dad. Thank you for living a life of serving others. Thank you for teaching me as a child, through your words and your actions.

Love,
Your son