Dear Dad – I think about you often, even without Father’s Day happening every June. I hope that this doesn’t come as any major surprise. You were – and are, influential to me in so many ways, I just wanted to say how grateful I am.
You gave me your opinions when they weren’t necessarily asked for, but also had answers to thousands of questions when I did. And although I didn’t always heed your advice, I did listen. I often wonder what you would think, do or say to some of my inquiries now.
It’s been nearly a decade since you’ve been called home and I trust you are enjoying your eternal rest, although I imagine that there isn’t any need to rest because you never get tired. You just visit with everyone up there, and play and laugh and smile all the time. It sounds heavenly.
The options that lay before me on several fronts are all “net positive,” and there really isn’t any glaring downside to any of them. But as I stand at various crossroads deciding which direction to take, it sure would be nice to get your spin on things. It is a luxury no longer available to me, but so much appreciated when it was.
I see the responsible actions or re-actions or interactions of fathers with their children and inside my heart it beats a little lighter – a little happier, and a little more reassuring about the world in which we are living. It isn’t all sunshine and roses, but there is still hope. And without hope, nobody down here has a snowball’s chance.
A ponytailed freckled faced girl sits on her dad’s lap as they take the golf cart for a lap around town. She outwardly giggles; he inwardly glows with love and pride at his creation with her hands at 10 and 2.
A young boy with a fresh #1 buzz cut stands in the sporting goods isle at Wal-Mart, admiring the selection of poles, hooks and bobbers; his dad ponders the budget and their odds of success. Actually catching a fish is unimportant; dreaming and being together is.
The everyday contact of a father that engages and encourages, informs and enlightens his offspring – no matter the complexity or the simplicity is what the Lord intended from the very beginning. It would be so extremely stupendous if every man that fathered another human being could just understand this.
Some of the lessons you taught were so sensible in theory and in practice: being charitable to one another, having a firm handshake, and showing good manners are all good social traits to have. They pay dividends and require no investment except common sense and a little forethought.
If you were here, I’d love to get your view on our Presidential candidates, the WOKE agenda, the New World Order, and why biological men feel the need to compete in women’s athletics. I’m somewhat of the belief that in order to correct the current craziness among his flock, the Shepard will eventually pull the rug from the loom before it completely unravels.
But I realize now from the faith that you showed us and shared with us – as our mortal father, that our Immortal Father has it well in hand. He will prevail. My question to you would be: Are we not his soldiers and his messengers, intended to be sent into the battle for him?
We never talked too deeply on theological issues until you only had but a few months remaining. I really wish I could undo that. I’m sorry. And when I rolled the tractor, wrecked two too many cars or caught the hayfield on fire, I’m sorry for those as well.
God Bless our Fathers.
