An Excellent Daddy!

I wanted to dedicate this blog to my good hubby Matt. I knew when I chose to marry Matt that he was a good man of godly character. I knew he would lead our family to Christ, but I had no idea what an amazing daddy he would end up being.

“Why is the sky blue?” I looked in the rear view mirror at the little one strapped in a car seat, the one who asked a million questions that day already. I was about to give the standard answer, “Because God made it that way”, when my husband says, “Well Bub it’s blue because of the earth’s atmosphere.” Then he continued to explain light and color and all things blue. I laughed inwardly. He looked at me when the science lesson was over, “what?” I smiled coyly and said, “Do you think he got that?” He wisely said, “Maybe not, but he will.” That has always been my husband’s approach with our boys. I read Bible story books to the boys, but he pulls out the Bible and they read together and exegete the scriptures. And yes, they do enjoy it. Not so much because they are understanding every word, but because Daddy is amazing. Daddy is on the floor explaining real life stuff to them. Daddy doesn’t have a life of his own and then occasionally joins our world for a few hours before bed, but our world is Daddy’s world and they know it.

As the boys grow older, I am amazed at how much they do understand. Over the years I’ve seen the wisdom of my husband’s approach and now use it myself. You see when you are shaping a little life, there is no down time. Even the common things of life are opportunities to shape their worldview. Is it easy? No. Sometimes we’d rather just say, “Who had it first?” and end the silly spat. But there are much deeper issues in seemingly simple everyday occurrences . Hearts are being molded. One selfishly snatching the toy and the other selfishly demanding to keep it. If we don’t help them to see what the real issues of life are, when will they learn it? Maybe they won’t. Maybe they will be the ones to split the church because someone sat in their pew or maybe they'll just grow up content with not thinking at all, floating through life like an amoeba that simple reacts to what it bumps into.

Teaching them diligently is not a task that comes naturally for most of us human beings. Our flesh wants to be comfortable and getting off the couch at the end of a hard day to answer a lot of questions or deal with disobedience isn’t what comes natural for us. It is a choice that we make with God’s help. For Matt and I it has been and still is a process. We are still learning to choose daily to teach in the moment, but the more we do it the more it becomes as natural as breathing. I thank God for a husband who challenges me to be a better mother and that my boys have a daddy who is willing to be here in body and spirit moment by moment teaching, loving, and pointing us all to Jesus.