Father's Day

I have been motivated to write this after reading my dad's post on Father's Day. Even if you don't know my dad, it is worth a read. His blog is http://www.earnestdcember.blogspot.com/. I am not ashamed to say that I was reduced to tears, hearing my dad talk about his father. You know, I can't think of any man (besides my husband, of course) that I have ever loved as much as my Daddy. And besides my Daddy and my husband, the only other man that really held a huge place in my heart was my Pappaw. His name was Stanley, and the thing I remember most about him is his love for Jesus. Plain and simple, my Pappaw loved his Savior.

I am not naive enough to believe that Pappaw did everything right, or to hold him up to some standard that no human could ever really meet. I know that he was a man, just like any other man. It is interesting to hear the lifetime of memories my dad has about his dad. My memories occur much later in the last few years of Pappaw's life, when I got to spend time with him as an adult. I remember that he wept frequently after my grandmother died, and that he repeatedly said that he wanted to go to heaven to see his two best friends, Jesus and Elizabeth. I remember the look on my husband's face the first time he saw Pappaw whacking away at my back with his huge hands while hugging me!! My husband looked like he was going to dive in and rescue me until I shot him an "I'm okay" look. After a lifetime of these hugs, we all had Pappaw-callouses on our backs!!

Mostly I remember that he was single-mindedly focused on his Savior in the later years. He lived and breathed his faith. He had one foot in heaven, and the other one reluctantly stuck here on earth. My uncle said once that Pappaw was a funeral junkie, and would go to any one's funeral even if he didn't know the person! What I learned later on in my life was that Pappaw was determined to be at church whenever he could because if the word of God was being preached, and hymns were going to be sung, he wanted to be there.

This is amazing to me. I am so busy, raising boys, being a wife, working from home, keeping the house, making the meals, all of the things that are necessary and right for me to do. What I want to have, in the midst of all of that, is a single-minded focus on my Savior. He is worthy of that single-minded devotion to Him. And I know I can have that heart while doing all of the above mentioned good and necessary things. I just have to get my head out of those things, and remember that I am doing them, not just in service to my bucketloads of men, but in service to the one Man who is my all in all. Pappaw's heart was the example for my heart to follow.

You know, one of the best things my Pappaw did was give me my Daddy. Like my Pappaw, I don't have him on a pedestal, he is a man, like any other man. He has made mistakes, as have I and you and everyone. But for my whole life, my Daddy has loved me. Unashamedly, without reserve loved me. I know that in this world today, this is not something to take for granted. I am proud to say that I don't, and I never will.