The Yellow Dress's Family Photo Album & Thoughts on Dads

I just read this week in the BBC news that the Prime Minister, David Cameron, is calling for absent fathers to be treated as drunk drivers, that they should feel the “full force of shame” for their actions. I kind of like this. The roles fathers play in society and family structure are profoundly awesome.

My parents have been married for 36 years and I have three younger brothers. My parents are just fantastic; I simply adore them. They have really shaped who I am, developed my values and, I think most importantly, my dad has shown me Who my heavenly Father is. I remember being in First Grade and walking in my parents’ bedroom to find my dad knelt by their bed, with his Book open, hands folded and head bowed. And while I haven’t been home for Father’s Day in America for… a few years, what with college, grad school & living overseas, it’s still a favorite for me.

Back in the day, my dad would do “Top Ten” lists like David Letterman at our home fellowship to promote different things: potlucks [why would we even need to promote these???], small groups, outings, etc. He would stand on stage, mic in hand, being so funny, making everyone laugh and want to join. He’s so great. And so, in his honor, I would like to do a Top Eleven for my sweet daddy.

1
He’s always made sure I totally rocked
school & everything academic—
even a Master’s degree.
[Not all dads do this. So I’m SUPER grateful.]

2
Christmas Presents 2010:
He’s a total goofball and the whole family follows suit.
He always plays with us. He’s either working or playing.
[I love this about him.]

3
He’s really handsome.
One of the first things my freshman college roommate said to me was,
“Your dad is so dreamy.”
[I kept my eye on her.]

4
He’s the hardest working guy I know.
And he just cares. All the time.

5
He loves my mom.
[With all his heart and strength.]

6
He’s supportive of everything I do.
[Unless I’m being a total dork.]

7
When I am being a dork, he sets me straight.
And sometimes he just yells at me in Finnish.
[I think that’s funny.]

8
He’s strong.
“A family that lifts together, stays together.”

9
He sings to me on the phone.
[I LOVE this.]

10
He’s the man I measure every other against.

11
When he hugs me, he always holds me about two seconds too long.
[This just makes my heart melt—because he’s my dad and I know he loves me.
And no matter how long he hugged me, it would never be enough.]

In all our human corruption and failings, with messed up gender attitudes and sometimes broken families, I think we can use a re-centering of what men of God are like. As a woman, sister, daughter, friend, I want to show the men in my life that I respect them and that I can follow and help them as they are running hard after God.

I really love men—they’re so funny. Sometimes living here makes it hard for me to love men—just yesterday I was glaring at and being sassy to an old man who wouldn’t stop staring at me and my friend on a bus ride to a refugee camp. Give us a break! I don’t want to be that person. I’m wrong to do that, but it also shows how sin perpetuates sin and it also displays what an intimate relationship the genders have with one another in any culture.

Something I really respect about my dad is that he’s let me leave—he’s let me be, in some aspects, an absent daughter. He knows I’m not his, but that I’ve been given to him, to protect, love, raise, nurture and poke fun at. Ha. My dad doesn’t live or operate in this culture, but he’s given me the tools and the example of a relationship with my Father Who does live and operate in this culture. It’s my hope that my friends here will one day know this Father, because He is Good. He is never absent. He is Faithful. He is Forgiving. And He is Love, Himself.