Letter from my Dad

Jessica,

AT the request of your church group it's our pleasure to present this letter of affirmation to you. Although I have plenty to declare, verify, avow, and otherwise brag about when it comes to the woman named Jessica ...... I'll try to concisely state our affirmation.

Your growth in adolescence required courage and hard work on your part. In the protexting and nurturing environment of your family, church, and friends you have flourished into a full-hearted, free-spirited, and daring minded woman. To all your activities as a young woman you bring the richness of your sensitivity, your intuitiveness, your generosity and trustworthiness.

You have come to understand the joy and the responsibility we have for the spiritual character of our thinking and choosing. Through prayer and perseverance your thoughts, feeling, attitudes, choices, and by these your life in Christ has advanced with each experience. As a result you treat men and women with openness, respect, acceptance and tenderness.

Your Mother and I savor the privilege of life with you. From the days of enjoying your childhood, the many camping trips and family events, to watching the hours of service to your church, your servant-leadership within Special Olympics,your volunteering to learn and sign for the deaf, your aide and ssistance to the less fortunate, you have as Mother Teresa asks, "Let no one ever come away from you, without coming away better and happier."

Your desire to follow-through based on deep personal faith in God, coupled with your gift to develop the potential for good in people has illuminated your intellect, made you more receptive to the truth, and lit up the path for many who have shared life with you. You have taken to heart the words of Mother Teresa "The fruit of prayer is a deepening of faith, and the fruit of faith is love, and the fruit of love is service."

In the Bible, service is always linked to a specific call that comes from God. For this reason, it represents the greatest fulfillment of dignity. You have responded to the churches teaching of the ideal of service, and lessons of servant leadership and the achieved a respectful balance of pride and humility. Not only has this sent a message to help others overcome the temptations of individualism and the illusion of obtaining happoness that way, it has served to uphold the dignity and rights of woman you have some in contact with.

Faith clarifies the intellect and makes for sharper discernment. St. Augustine is referring to this dynamic when he says, credo ut intelligam- "I believe in order that I may understand." With the prayerfil hope and reflection you have exercised your faith, strenghtened your prayer life and conquered fear, even in the present world situation. You have come to understand more deeply the meaning of the redemptive work of Christ.

We are extremely proud to affirm our love and admiration for you Jessica, a woman of dignity, high character, and a deep faith and a profound love of God.

With all our love,
Mom and Dad

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My dad wrote this letter when I was getting confirmed for church.