“There's something like a line of gold thread running through a man's words when he talks to his daughter, and gradually over the years it gets to be long enough for you to pick up in your hands and weave into a cloth that feels like love itself.” - John Gregory Brown, Decorations in a Ruined Cemetery
I had learned so much about the different continents of this world because of my father who worked as a Radio Operator when I was growing up. He traveled and had gone to many countries and as he did, he communicated with me by sending many beautiful postcards and had told me things about a particular culture. I was always so excited every time he would come home during his vacations, bringing me lots of markers with the colors of a rainbow and other things I could use to draw pictures and make my own stationeries. Those things I used when I would write him back.
Though he was away for more months than with us as a sacrifice to earn and provide for his family, leaving my mother to be both as our mother and father at times he was away, he made his presence known by nurturing his family with his love shown through actions.
As he was dying surrounded by us, his children, all he whispered with remaining strength were the words: “I love you all. Do not forget that…”
“I love you…” Those words still echo in my heart even in his absence. Despite the big hole he left (same with my mother) in our hearts, it truly never felt empty because they both made sure they filled our hearts with their love.
It doesn’t matter who he was. I would always remember my father how he was to us, his family and same with his friends. He was always a funny guy but he left many hearts crying on the day he went Home to our good Father Who is the true Source of love.
And now with my own family, I see the same loving acts from the one I married. He is a loving and supportive father to our son. Always sacrificing, always compromising, always understanding, always helping and most of all, always loving and making it known to his son and me.
As I write, I know others long for that kind of love. The love that comes from a father. But know this:
“The Lord is like a father to his children, tender and compassionate to those who fear him.”
- Psalm 103:13 (NLT)
Lord, thank You for You, for being our Father we call on from up above. Thank You for Your gift of love. Thank You for giving me a father who loved us unconditionally and had taught me to be grateful for the littlest things I have, especially that of love. Thank you for guiding my father to shape his children’s future and for sharing with us about Your goodness.
Thank You Lord for giving me a man who loves my son and I unconditionally. Continue to guide him with Your divine wisdom and empower him with Your Spirit to walk in fatherly ways the way You do.
I pray for those who are hurting Lord and who are growing up or had grown up without having earthly father’s sacrificial love. Please comfort them and make Your love known in their hearts. Thank You Lord for all of Your blessings. Thank You for loving us first. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
Life is not the same without a father. Life is even more fulfilling if we know and acknowledge the love of a Father Who is in the heavens. He desires for us to draw nearer to Him. Happy Father's Day!!! May you be a father who loves those around you unconditionally. May you look up to our Father in heaven Who can empower you to follow His footsteps. Through children's eyes, life is not the same without a father.
