“Then the light begins to shine and I hear those ancient lullabies”
As a kid, I was amazed
at the things my father was able to do. He could ride a bicycle without hands,
hold his breath under water, grow beautiful vegetable gardens, blow bubbles
with chewing gum, and navigate his way through areas of New York I could only dream
about exploring. He was the most capable person I knew. My young eyes observed
him and always wondered “how” he could be proficiently skilled and confident in
his abilities. The mind of a child is continuously amazed and fascinated by the
world. That wonder is renewed every day and every time they see something new.
As we grow older, these amazing moments tend to drop off in frequency. Adults
sill get glimpses of “how did you do that?” instances, but they don’t always
hold the same impression.
This Father’s Day is an
important time to recall how the first impressions of our journey through life
are impacted most when we are children. Our fathers have an incredible amount
of influence on us at all times. We trust them to give us answers, to explain
why things are the way they are and how we can accomplish the very acts we
observe in fascination. I’ve been blessed to have my father as a positive
influence throughout my childhood and adult life. I am even more fortunate to
have an eternal father who has all the answers. Our Father in heaven is able to
do far more than any of our earthly fathers. He reaches us in unspoken ways,
much like a Dad who disciplines his child with a “look”. The child knows that
look means to behave. God gives us glimpse of amazement every day, though we
all must wait to see the complete picture. God grants us freedom on this
journey to discover His creation just as our Dads enable us to freely choose
our way. The choices we make, they pray, are ones they’ve helped equip us to
handle.
I was winning a tennis
match in tenth grade. My father was cheering from the sideline fence. On match
point, I whipped a backhand approach shot crosscourt. The winning shot was hit
so precisely that it tapped the corner between the baseline and the singles
alley. I looked back and my father shook his head and raised his eyebrows.
Later, on the ride home, he asked “how did you do that” about the final shot.
In this journey we call
life, our fathers give us the confidence we need to become better. In the end,
our amazement is their amazement too. Happy Father’s Day!
“Bit by bit I realized…I
looked into my father’s eyes”
