Wednesday, July 25, 2007

One of the Best Parts of My Day as a Dad

One of the best parts of my day as a Dad is when I come home from work and I open the door to my house and walk in the door. It is because I know from many prior days of experience that as soon as I open the door the faces of my oldest girl Zoë who is now four years old and my second oldest girl Hannah, who is now two years old, will light up like sunshine and overflow with excitement and glee as they hear and then see me come in through the door. My heart wells up with very deep emotions of love just seeing the full and unconditional love of my children for me as their faces beam with uncontained excitement and the biggest smiles on their little faces that their bodies will allow them to make. They run to me with their happy faces and call out as loud as they can, “Daddy! Daddy! Daddy! It’s Daddy! Daddy is home!” I call their names out loud in return, “Zoë! Zoë! Zoë! Hannah! Hannah! Hannah!” Then they reach out with outstretched arms for me as I reach down to them and pick them up all the while continuing the chorus of calling out each other’s names. I’ll bounce them and hug them tightly and give them kisses on their cheeks and I always do my best to make sure to tell them that I love them saying, “I love you Zoë!” “I love you Hannah!” At this point they will tell me that they love me, tell me that they missed me, tell me something they thought was exciting about their day, or do some combination of the three. Since Hannah is two and her ability to communicate clearly is limited she will babble broken English and other words that sound like Chinese to me, but I gladly listen with joy and care even though I don’t fully understand. If it is important to my girls then it is important to me.

Every time I experience this moment with my girls I do my best to keep it secure and safe deep within the secret chambers of my heart and locked within the memories of my mind. This moment to me is even better than if I had played in a multi-million dollar powerball lottery and hit the winning numbers. My mind cannot help but think about the biblical story of the prodigal son and the loving father who at the sight of his returning son began to run with compassion to meet his lost son and then the father embraced, kissed his son, gave his son new clothes, a ring, and new shoes.
Luke 15:11 – 32 If you are familiar with the story, you will know that when Jesus was telling this story He was referring to God as the Father, and us as the prodigal son, so when I see my children I can identify with God’s love for us as our Father. Because of my deep love for my children and the sacredness of this moment I have with them, I have gained insight as a daddy into the depth of God’s love for us.

However as joyous as this part of my day is as a Dad, I know that as my girls grow up they will one day cease to show the full and unconditional love like they do now. I can already see signs of this beginning to appear in my oldest girl Zoë. Her enthusiasm when I come home is not always as consistent or shown as brightly as she once did when she was Hannah’s age. I know as they mature they will begin to understand and see Daddy in new ways and our relationship will become far more complex. In the future depending on how our relationship develops they will be aware that they have the choice to not love me if they so choose. I just fervently pray to God that when my girls grow up and mature that if they choose the path of the prodigal son that God will show them grace and my girls will come to their senses like the prodigal son did and return back home to Daddy. If that day should come when they return home then I will be the one to light up like sunshine, overflow with excitement and glee, and call out their names once again like I did when they were my little girls.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

You're a great dad, Mark!

Love ya! Mom a/k/a Dee

of Finding Direction: The Wind Vane Chronicles

Anonymous said...

Just checking on you, as I often do. Missing your blogging, but definitely understand.

Love, Mom

Charmed Mom said...

I love you honey and you are the best daddy around!!!