Saturday, August 18, 2012

A father's poem to his gay son (from Circling the Wagons Mormon LGBT Conference)

On the weekend of August 11, 2012, we held the third "Circling the Wagons" Mormon LGBT conference here in San Francisco. There, I had the great honor to meet the Montgomerys--a solid, kind, Mormon family from California with a young gay son.

At the conference, Tom Montgomery, the father, shared this poem he'd written about his son. I share it here with his permission.

What a great Dad--thank you, my Savior. Please send more like Tom. Fathers like him make the world a better place for all of us.

Enjoy.

___________________________________________________________

I See The Image Of Christ In My Gay Son, Lord

I held him in my hand when he was newly born;
Perfect and innocent, filling me with joy.
I held his hand at his first steps,
I watched him play and smile and talk.

This boy that I have been given,
Has been a gift and my joy,
With a voice that touches the heavens,
And hands that bring music.

He is unique and he is gifted,
And his smile lights up a room.
But the greatest gift I see in him, Lord,
Is that he reminds me of You.

I see love in his eyes and hear trust in his voice,
He cares more readily for others.
I have taught him all Thou hast given me, Lord,
And he has become a better man than I.

I see the Image of Christ in my gay son, Lord,
He is chaste and young and pure.
But we need a new way to live today,
To fill with joy and hope and love.

He is Yours, Lord, and he is mine,
So let us set his feet
On a path that leads him back to You,
As Thou hast made him - perfect and complete.


By Tom Montgomery
With Jordan Montgomery’s permission

4 comments:

  1. such a lucky, lucky son ... his feet are already on a path that will lead him back... just remember, he's right next to you... you'll end up in the same place as long as you're walking the same path together...

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  2. What a beautiful poem and what a special father. I wish everyone were loved so much for who they are. Thanks for sharing this Mitch.

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  3. Just watched the video from a Huffington Post story, and dug deep to see what your "journey" has been like thus far. A tough slog, and just barely begun! When I tried to "straddle the fence" in 2006 it only took my Florida stake president two weeks to excommunicate me for apostacy...before I had even decided if my temple marriage of 25 years to my wife could be saved. With the help of people like Carol Lynn Pearson and Lavina Fielding Anderson, I had that excommunication vacated, but it took 7 1/2 months and by then my wife and I had seen the futility in trying to make our marriage work when I obviously was what can only be called a "Kinsey 6." I found myself "Mormon" again three days before my boyfriend and I were going to move in with each other, and by then the bitterness toward the Mormon Church was complete. I will grant you this. Today...after what the leadership learned from Prop 8...it is a different climate. God speed to you who are keeping up the good fight.

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