My Late Father's Birthday and a Lesson He Taught Me

Hi! How are you? Today, November 20th, 2009, is my late father's birthday. He would have been 87 today, but sadly he passed away in the Malacca General Hospital last year - on April 4th, 2008.

Throughout his life on Earth, all 85 1/2 years of it, D.A. Devadason - widely known in Malacca as 'lawyer Devadason' - left his mark and his legacy. Last year, after he shed the shackles of this physical world, I wrote six blog postings here on specific lessons that I received from him. Today, on his birthday, I want to share something a little bit different.

My father had 10 children. In order of birth, we are: Rabin, Eva, Viji, Rajen, Jaya, Rani, Sarah, Pushpa, Parames and Niza. It's remarkable, but as I think of each of my nine siblings and of myself, I realise that we are all different. Of course, different individuals will always be 'different', but I mean we are each very, very different from each other. And yet our father loved us all deeply.

Countless times when I spoke to him, either in person when I would visit our family home in Bukit Baru, Malacca, or over the phone, he would firmly reassure me that he prayed for each of us, his children, every single day. And he really did!

I also remember when I was very small, he made sure I fully memorised the Shepherd's Psalm by David, Psalm 23. Its famous opening words are: "The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads beside still waters, He restoreth my soul..."

None of us is perfect, and we all make mistakes in life. But the lesson of learning to 'rest' in God in the midst of all the trials, troubles, travails and turbulence that mark our earthly life is one that I will always be thankful to my beloved father for.

So, as you read this - especially if you do so on November 20th - I hope you will do something special for those you love, while you are still able to. Specifically, I would suggest you think deeply about a wonderful lesson your own parents have taught you; then proactively choose to share that nugget of wisdom, whatever it may be, with someone younger than you. Never forget that genuine, abiding legacies are built one small act of kindness at a time.

Thank you for joining me here. In closing, I'm going to trust my Heavenly Father to relay a message to my natural father as I say, "Happy 87th birthday, Papa!"


Warmest regards,


Rajen


Rajen Devadason is CEO of RD Book Projects and its sister company RD WealthCreation Sdn Bhd. He lives in sunny, peaceful Malaysia with his gorgeous wife Rachel. He's a Malaysian Securities Commission-licensed financial planner, a life planning consultant, a professional speaker and a serial author.