I wake up on this father’s day weekend in a hotel room in Jacksonville with Mom and Tonia.  We are here starting a new mother’s day tradition of going somewhere fun as a little getaway (and this was the first weekend we could all get away).  So I am here on the day set aside for fathers celebrating motherhood.  As I was looking through my Facebook albums for a new profile picture for today (one with Dad in it) I noticed even there that more emphasis has been placed on mother’s day than father’s day.

This causes me some guilt, but mostly makes me pause and ask my favorite question – why?

Why, when without my father I wouldn’t be a Daddy’s girl?  Why, when without my father I wouldn’t have my adventurous perspective on the world?  Why, when without my father I would not have learned that the very best way to wake your child is by gently rubbing their back and telling them you love them?  Why, when without my father I wouldn’t have had a man to stand up for me in my teenage years, a man to show me what a husband should look like,  a man to exhibit what a powerful presence a person can have in a room without being “powerful” in the worldly sense of the word?  This man, MY father, taught me to embrace life and fun and to really listen to people.  He taught me how to tie my shoes, to ride a bike, to sail, to change a tire, to make a mean breakfast.  He helped teach me math and science and helped me with homework every time I asked.  To this day, when I don’t understand a concept about weather or the earth or anything on it – I just have to pick up the phone and Dad will explain it to me.  He is truly one of the smartest people I know.  But the most lasting thing  my Dad taught me was how to pray.  He encouraged the use of the Lord’s prayer in me when I was a small girl.  He taught me to lean on those words for comfort and seek their meaning in my life.  He taught me how God wanted to comfort me to sleep through the use of these words.  My prayer life has developed through the years and is most often now my personal cries of thanksgiving and need – but sometimes I turn back to the Lord’s prayer and sit in the beauty of all it encompasses.

I think Father’s Day is a perfect day to reflect on The Lord’s prayer as it guides us to do so in it’s very first utterance – “Our Father, who art in Heaven”.  What a gift to have a man on earth who gives me a glimpse of what the love of our heavenly Father looks like!