To Dads, With Love

(my husband and son left, my husband as a baby top right, me as a baby bottom right)

  No dad is perfect but these days it is getting harder and harder to find a *good* dad. A staggering number of children are growing up with dads that are uninvolved, uninterested, abusive or simply not there at all.  My heart truly goes out to these families, these kids, these moms. To these, and to those that have lost their fathers, I know Father's day can be hard and I pray that God meets you in the hard places where He promises to be a "Father to the fatherless". (Ps. 68:5)  Not in a cheesy platitude way, but in a real, tangible way that God will provide for you, and love you, and watch over you in a way better than any earthly father ever could.

By the grace of God our family has been blessed with some amazing fathers and I am so grateful they continue to be a part of our lives.  My dad, my father in law, and my husband are all really strong men but they all have really tender hearts too.  They have worked hard to love their families well and I have reaped these tangible and intangible benefits in countless ways and I truly thank God for the family name and legacy they are building.  These men show me God, which is why God created the role of "dad" in the first place.  They love, protect, provide, discipline, comfort, and lead by example.  To think our Heavenly Father feels this way about me multiplied times a thousand is just overwhelming.  

Dads kind of get the shaft because as you get older you don't have much to buy them anymore when they have every tie, grill set, coffee mug and golf knick knack they could ever want and then some.  And really I find dads (men) to be simple in their desires to just be at home and be with their family and eat and watch TV (or insert hobby of choice hahaha). So to these three amazing dads and to any others reading this, I hope this is a small way to let you know how much you are appreciated. And if you currently don't feel appreciated, hang in there! The value of a good father truly lasts a lifetime and will continue to increase every year that goes by.  Thank you for changing diapers that we don't remember, making us eat peas that really aren't that bad, thank you for lectures that we hated but appreciated and thank you for phone calls when there just isn't anyone else to call but Dad. 

Proverbs 20:7 "A righteous man who walks in his integrity, how blessed are his sons after him".

Happy Father's Day 2013. xoxo