I was going to just quickly look over my Bible Study lesson for this week, and the first question really moved me to do more than just answer it to myself.
What was your relationship with your father like growing up? If you did not have a father growing up, substitute your mother or guardian.
Not have a father? I can't imagine. I love my father. I think the world of him. Since getting married and starting a family I have discovered ways he may have been difficult for my mom, but I have always only had stars in my eyes when it came to my dad. He is the smartest man I know. I can ask him a question about nearly ANYTHING and he has an answer. I feel like growing up he was tough. He never "scared" me, but I hated to disapoint him. I absolutely LOVED to tell him good news. I loved to brag to him when I got good grades, scored well on a test, just about anything good in school. It made me fill with joy when I was able to tell him something impressive I did while playing sports. I longed to please him all the time. His laugh has always made me happy. He and I shared a love of reading while I was growing up, and I could just sit in a room with him and read for hours. I still remember him teaching me to ride a bike. In the church parking lot behind our house, I had a red bicycle and he kept telling me that I wasn't even using my training wheels, so why don't we just take them off? We did and I remember being so nervous, but fully trusting that he would never let me get hurt. When I was a freshman in high school we moved to a bigger house and we had a basketball goal in the driveway. I wanted so badly to be good at basketball because I knew dad really liked watching the games. We would shoot hoops outside and he was always better than me, but nothing made me hold my head as high as when he would compliment one of my shots. I always felt like my dad was completely honest with me...maybe sometimes to a fault. His praise made my day. Negative words would crush me so hard. I do have memories of him being angry and I recall just thinking, thinking, thinking about what I could do to make him happy again. My dad wasn't perfect...nobody's perfect. My dad was the most perfect dad for me. His honesty and bluntness has made me who I am today, and it has given me an appreciation for the truth and people who tell it. Now that I am older (and wiser?), I can appreciate his humor. I enjoy talking to him, talking at him, talking with him. Just hanging out with my dad is a good day for me. I miss him like crazy.
This is supposed to be indicative of the way I view my heavenly father. Yeah, I'm good with that.
My book says, "A good father provides a picture of what God is like." At my church, on Father's Day, we have a guest pastor who is very adamant about the importance of a good father in the home. I had that. I still do. My father loves me with every ounce of his heart and he shows it. His sometimes strict, often relaxed, always honest way of dealing with me has brought me up to be the person I am proud to be today. I know I married a man with a lot of similarities to my own dad, and I am happy to say I wouldn't have it any other way.
