Multitude Monday: Father's Day Edition

I can't help but reflect, this Multitude Monday, on the men in my life. This life of mine could look so vastly different than what it does. I see the truth of that every day and my gratitude is renewed.

Realizing what *could* have been and recognizing the abundant graces in life is the surest way to pull yourself out of despair. I *could* have had a deadbeat dad. I *could* have married a deadbeat man. Instead, I was born into a Christian home, raised by a loving man and taught to value myself and Christian men enough to patiently await finding the one that was right for me. My better half, and so he turns out to be.

Recognizing the gifts of....

~A father, my own, who raised up the gangly, knobby-kneed girl in my shadow-past to stand tall, even when her towering body wanted to shrink away into embarrassed little corners.


~the commitment of a father who worked days, months, years-usually two jobs-to provide for his family.

~salt and peppered man who enjoyed parenting so much that he started all over again.


~ a father-in-law who raised up a pair of two pound squirts, wrinkled pink bodies that fit into each one of his hands, one of which who grew to be the mighty man who I call my very own.


~ a father who helps a son. Often. and spoils grandchildren with TIME.

~ a gift of God , turned boy, turned man, turned husband, turned father, turned OURS. Perfectly named.

~ a Papa who doles out free pony and bull rides before bed.

~ the four little brown eyes, his own, that stare back at me when he is gone.


~ the forty little fingernails to clean, the eight feet to wash, and the four mouths to kiss each night (or almost four, anyway) that he made with me

~ a father who lets children work alongside

~ bits of himself to make bits of beauty


~ a husband who teaches a son what it means to be a responsible, respectable man.

~ a father who knows the answers to the hard questions

~ a father who leads


~ the red, wet eyes of a new father

~ a Papa who showers his girls, even the grown up one, with compliments


~ a husband with whom I respect and admire and trust, with my whole being.

~a faithful worker, on our behalf.

~ the tenderness he can show

~ a man who sits and eats with us at the table every night.

~a father who doesn't plop in front of the TV when he gets home, but walks in the pasture with his children.

~ knowing that HOME is where his heart is

~ callous, thick man-hands, cradling the tender, softness of his own legacy.

#423 ~ #445 blessings
poured out on me from the most perfect, most Holy, most adored Father of all.