Do you know what I hope for you? That you have a great dad. I have a great dad. My kids, too. They have a great dad. My nieces and nephews have great dads, too. They sort of fill the earth, all those nieces and nephews and their great dads.
Sometimes, when I was a kid, people would ask me, what does your dad do? and I would answer with my seven-year-old studiousness, he’s a strategic planner. I worked hard to remember that, and I used it as often as I could (because even then, I loved me some big words). But between then and now, I’ve had a lot of occasions to answer that question… differently. Because my dad has been a lot of things.
A lot.
But when people ask me now? I tell them he’s a teacher. And a gardener. And that seems to fit. He loves to teach. He fills his heart up with his university students. He cares about their success in his classes and also in the important-er parts of their lives. He loves to teach. And he loves his garden. He tells vegetable stories like I used to tell toddler stories. (Wow! Look how big they’re getting! Can you believe the precociousness of my cauliflower?) He thrills that he can leave boxes of excess produce in the church kitchen, and that it will all be taken and eaten.
A teacher, and a gardener. Sound like Anyone Else you know? Like the One my dad seeks to emulate in his daily life, always putting God’s will first, always seeking to serve others, always willing to submit to the Lord’s plan. My father, walking in the footsteps of his Savior, the master teacher. A teacher, and a gardener.
(6) Comments for this blog
I too love your dad for many, many, many reasons. Happy father’s day Dad Brent.
I too love your dad for many, many, many reasons. Happy father’s day Dad Brent.
Your dad sounds pretty awesome.
Your dad sounds pretty awesome.
What an awesome tribute! And my, what a lucky daughter you are (we all are).
What an awesome tribute! And my, what a lucky daughter you are (we all are).