Fathers

In the wake of Valentine's Day, I wanted to share the most precious memory I have of this faux holiday. About 9 years ago I worked at the research & development plant for a yacht manufacturing company. Visitors and vendors came by all the time to tour the plant, so for me to get a phone call from the front desk announcing a guest was just part of an ordinary day. When I went down to the front office I saw the sweetest thing...my dad standing there with a bud vase containing three long-stemmed red roses. He was just beginning his work day that morning but took the time to come by and let me know I was loved. His gesture made me the happiest girl in that building and I will cherish this memory forever.

Why did it make such an impact? I mean, boys had brought me flowers and gifts before. I believe there are a couple of reasons. First, my dad isn't really the sentimental type. And we haven't always been as close as we are now. He and my mom divorced when I was about 4 or 5 years old (I'm 34 now) and since I moved around the country with her, staying close to dad required more effort than I think either of us wanted to put forth. It's really only been the last 14 years that we've been investing in each other's lives on a consistent basis. This brings me to my second reason his flowers made an impact...I'm still learning the depth of my dad's love and care for me.

It's funny that I'm remembering these things because today in church the message was about God being a caring and consistent God yet people mistakenly relate to Him as we do our own imperfect human fathers. I'm still learning the depth of my heavenly Father's love for me. His love is so perfect and I'm sooooo flawed.

How does this post belong on a baby blog? My prayer is that John and I would be the kind of mother and father that will genuinely reflect God's love to Bean. That baby Bean would be able to easily relate to the knowledge and truth of God because we layed a healthy and loving foundation, shaped by our own acceptance of the truth of God's love for us.