This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves
to be my disciples. John 15:8

Happy Father's Day, Dad!

>> Saturday, June 14, 2008

My Dad and I look alike. Like, identical alike. He's just older and has less hair. There are other differences, too, but I think you can probably figure those out for yourselves.

My Dad and I are also alike in many other ways, too. We are both opinionated, stubborn and easily irritable. You can imagine the kind of combustibility that caused when I was a teenager. We butted heads on everything. I was the queen of contrary. If he said the sky was blue, I would tell him it was green. Only because I wanted to be right. Even though I clearly wasn't. This is the kind of logic a 13-year-old possesses (I really need to remember this when my boys are 13).

Despite the fact that I spent my teen years telling my Dad how wrong he was, to this day there is no one whose opinion I value more. I may still disagree with him, but I still want to know what he thinks. I trust him. One of the reasons for this is because he rarely lets emotions control his decisions. He believes in making smart choices and thinking things through to a logical conclusion. He and my Mom are a perfect yin-yang in this area. My Mom feels things. My Dad thinks things. (This is not to say that my Mom doesn't think and my Dad doesn't feel. I'm just generalizing.) I feel like I have grown up with a good balance of both. I am open and honest with my emotions and yet I know they are not a good compass to guide my life by. I'm thankful for that.

There is also no one on earth whose laugh means more to me than my Dad. His belly laugh is contagious. Making him laugh until his face turns red is one of life's greatest pleasures for me. Fortunately, like me, there are few things he loves more than a good belly laugh.

My Dad is one of the most generous, giving people I know. He will give you the shirt off of his back if you need it (but then he'll probably try and teach you how to earn your own shirt next time. What do you expect? He's a republican). I have many, many (many) memories from growing up of him pulling over to help a stranded motorist, an adrift boater or even a hitchhiker (it was the 70's). These are qualities I wish I had. I find myself, all too often, too busy to help. He never was.

So thank you, Dad, for the my opinionated-ness, it's the reason I'm so certain of what I believe and why. And thank you for my stubbornness. It's the reason I'm so passionate about what I believe. Thank you, Dad, for the example you always set of being smart and generous, with a good sense of humor.

I think you'll agree, though, that we both need to work on the irritability. Or maybe that's only irritability with each other. Either way, I love you, Dad. God definitely gave to me with both hands when he gave me you and mom.

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