Aimee Williams' Wisdom From Her Daddy

I don’t usually use anyone else’s writing in this blog, but the wisdom here based on Jesus’ teaching and the Holy Spirit’s leadership  is so valuable that I want to share it with you in case you didn’t have an opportunity to see it.  Aimee and her husband Chris have just celebrated their baby girl’s first birthday, and I have every confidence that she too will learn these same lessons.  She is Pam and Sam’s first grandchild, and I am so glad they got to enjoy her this past year.  During his illness, every photo I saw of Sam showed  him smiling just like the one below with Aimee, Laurel, and Mike taken on last Father’s Day.  His smiles and joy on photos with his baby granddaughter always reflected those times as highlights during his illness.  [Whoops!  Sorry the photo Aimee had posted on Facebook with Sam and his three children last June did not copy with her lessons.]

22 Life Lessons from Dad

February 21, 2014 at 10:31am

1.    “I love you.”  No matter what. Nothing we could do or not do would change that.

2.    “I am not your mom.” – meaning, he didn’t have to do things the same way Mom did, and that was okay.

3.    Men can do laundry.  When mom started back to work full-time, Dad took over the laundry as one of “his” chores.  My parents ran our home with teamwork so that everything would get done.

4.    “Jesus loves you.”  Jesus is the perfect Son of God, who gave his life as the perfect sacrifice so that we could have forgiveness of our wrong-doing and eternal life with him.

5.    Men can bake cakes.  I remember one year when Mom was having a birthday and Dad made a cake for her.  As a little kid used to seeing Mom do most of the cooking, I was surprised.  He reminded me, “I lived on my own fora few years before I married your mom. I know how to cook.”

6.    Daddies are excellent bed-time story readers.  I was almost six when I got a baby sister.  When Laurel was little, she took up a lot of Mom’s attention and was often nursing when it came time for me to go to bed.  Dad stepped up and read me my bed-time stories and tucked me in.

7.    Prayer is important.  Every family meal began with a prayer giving thanks to the Lord for our food, our home, and our family.  If we were frightened, worried, happy or thankful we were encouraged to talk to God about it.

8.    Church matters.  Church is where we learn more about God and gain encouragement from other believers. As kids, we didn’t get to have sleepovers on Saturday nights because Mom and Dad wanted us to be rested and ready to learn God’s Word the next morning.  At the time we didn’t always appreciate this but I am thankful now for the commitment and strong Biblical foundation that were laid.

9.    We could always come to Dad with our problems,and we could always come to God with our problems.  Both loving fathers, their ears are there to listen to their beloved children.

10.  Hugs and kisses are important.  We should show the love we feel for others.

11.   Men can cry.  It does not in any way diminish their strength to show emotion.  It is appropriate to cry when you are sad or when your heart is touched by something.  As we danced to “My Girl” at my wedding reception, my dad and I both shed a few tears… we were seeing an end to one stage in my life and the beginning of a new one.

12. We should apologize when we hurt someone’s feelings or do something wrong.  I can remember times when Dad would lose his temper at one of us kids because we were being brats—and later, he

would always apologize if he had yelled or said something hurtful.  Wow.  Talk about practicing what you preach!  It made us respect him that much more.

13. Music can lift a broken spirit.  Mom and Dad both brought music into our lives… for Dad, singing and playing guitar was a way to make yourself feel better when you were down.

14. Family traditions should be meaningful— holidays should not be empty, not about commercialism.  Many years, we would all get up before dawn on Easter, drive to a near-by pond or lake, and have a sunrise service as a family. On Christmas, we read the story of Christ’s birth from the Bible and sang Christmas carols together before opening presents.  He was so good at keeping our focus on what really matters—Jesus Christ.

15. We should love others regardless of their differences.  Dad did a lot of work with internationals through the years.  I grew up around people from various different cultures, countries, languages and ethnic backgrounds.  We had Christmas parties for internationals, and sometimes invited them to our family celebrations.  God made each of these people and they are all important to Him—therefore they should also be important to us.

16. We should always forgive.  This was a big deal growing up due to the sibling rivalry in our home—and as the middle child, it seems I was always in the thick of it.  No matter who said or did what, at the end of the day, we always have to forgive.  After all,we do love each other, and the person it hurts the most when you won’t forgive is yourself. 

17. Although it’s great when Mom brings home groceries, it’s excellent when Dad does. Dad brought home more junk food than Mom—honey buns, swiss cake rolls, etc. (No offense, Mom!)

18. Dads are good at caring for sick kids, too. Once Mom went back to work full-time, Dad’s schedule was more flexible to be off work with a sick kid. He’s cleaned up my vomit, no complaints, and put on a movie for me while tucked in bed.

19. Recliner+ sports on tv= Dad napping

20. Your kid’s friends matter.  Dad was always good about asking how my friends were doing.  It made me feel good to know that he cared about the people that were important to me.

21. Dads can change diapers, even CLOTH diapers.  He did it for all of us kids.

22. The deaths of those who know Jesus is not the end.  We can have confidence that we will be reunited with those who had relationships with Christ when the time comes for God to take us home.  I have never been so thankful of that as I am now.  I will see my Dad again.