Daddy

As I write this, the sun is just about to go down on Father’s Day, 2011.  Twenty-three years ago was my first Father’s Day as a dad.  This one has been my first as a father-in-law.  It has been a great day in so many ways.  I got to spend the whole day with Mrs. Sweetie.  I got to preach this morning in one of the sixty-four churches that I am blessed to assist.  But certainly the best part of my Father’s Day was the blessing of multi-generational voices. 

 I never get tired of hearing the voices of my children.  Now that the nest is empty, it is most often on the phone.  But it grabs my heart nonetheless.  Of all the names I have ever been called, nothing sounds as sweet as Daddy.  I looked forward to those phone calls from the time I got up this morning until the last one came in around 6:00 p.m.  What a blessing!

I did mention multi-generational, didn’t I?  There were two other phone calls that were a part of the day—a  very special part of the day.  You see, I am also a son.  And I am a son that is an example of the truth that “God causes all things to work together for good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28).  My parents divorced when I was seven years old.  That is not a circumstance that I would have chosen, but through it I have both a dad and a step-dad and I am blessed to have them both.  They have both loved me and their voices have spoken into my life.  I cannot imagine my life without either of them and neither can take the other’s place.  I am doubly blessed.

I probably don’t talk to either of them as often as I should, and now that they are both 75, I think about it a lot more.  I guess that’s why it was important for me to let them hear my voice today.  And it was important for me to hear theirs.  The Bible instructs children to “Honor your father and mother.” (Ephesians 6:2).  I can’t locate anywhere in the Bible that indicates an expiration date on that.  Because I know what wells up in me when I hear the voices of my children, I have a pretty good idea that it meant something special today when this “little boy” made those two phone calls.  My life matters to those two amazing men and to my Heavenly Father as well.   

Your life matters, too.