Grace and Glory

Musings from the Threshold

Category Archives: Papa

A quote

There’s something like a line of gold thread running through a man’s words when he talks to his daughter, and gradually over the years it gets to be long enough for you to pick up in your hands and weave into a cloth that feels like love itself.

~John Gregory Brown, Decorations in a Ruined Cemetery, 1994

Happy Father’s Day!

This is one of my favorite pictures of my Papa and me. It is so reflective of us.
In the late night hours of this Father’s Day Eve, I’ve been thinking about (and missing) my Papa. On Mother’s Day, I had the privilege of enjoying Mama’s presence – what a treat! I didn’t really have the opportunity for a thoughtful post about her at the time (but I’ll get to you too, dear Mama).
I don’t know for sure when the above picture was taken, but I will admit that I snagged it from the KBC photo album many years ago. I love Papa’s smile. And when I look at my face here, I see complete and utter trust.
They say that your relationship with your earthly father is a significant influence as you develop your view of God, our Heavenly Father. Not only did Papa teach me Biblical principles that were foundational to my theological understanding of God, but he gave me a living example of God’s love and faithfulness that deeply influence my view of God relationally.
A few things for which I’m thankful about my Papa…
**Papa lives by principles and taught us how to apply Biblical principles to every day living.
**He showed me what it was like to be treated like a lady… and pounded it into my head that as a child of the King I should act like a lady and be treated as such.
**He helped me to understand the sovereignty of God on a deep and personal level (though I don’t claim to “get it” entirely!).
**He gave us an incredible of example of patience in parenting. If I were half as patient as Papa, my children would be so blessed.
**He shows us a living example of what “husbands love your wives” looks like with skin on. This is a great accompaniment to Mama’s example of “wives submit to your husbands, as to the Lord.”
**He does a terrific monkey impersonation! Which leads to the more general fact that he’s a whole lot of fun.
**He prepared me for a husband who loves trouble! 😉
There’s so much more, but I’d best get some sleep.
Happy Father’s day to the Papa side of the best parenting duo I’ve ever seen!
Love you!

Fathers and Daughters

On my way home a couple of weeks ago, I heard a song that made it almost impossible for me to drive. It was more than a poignant reminder. It was actually very revealing to me, and made me treasure my Papa even more.

Here’s the video. Embedding is disabled, so I can’t put it directly in the blog, but go take a listen.

It brought to my mind this picture of our wedding day. It’s a shot someone caught of Papa walking me down the aisle. It’s always touched me deeply – me glowing, and Papa… well, not so much.

(This also reminds me that I need to get our wedding pictures into digital format… sorry about the ink spot on Papa’s cheek!)

There’s so much more in my heart for which I’m not finding words..

Ladies, be sure to tell your fathers you love them today.

Papa, I just want to say again how thankful I am for you and how blessed I am to be your daughter. Thank you for teaching, training, and guarding me all those years, for leading me to the Most Important Love of all, and for being such an amazing example. You and Mama, with lots of help from the Lord (of course!!), are blame for most everything good about who I am today. I love you both dearly.