Raising me…

Yesterday was my dad's 52nd birthday.

He's done a lot in 52 years and I spent most of the day thinking about him in large part to the message we received at church as well as the testimony of one of the members of the missions team here from Michigan.

The message was about bringing up the new generation. I'm now part of the elders and not the youngsters but I wish that I had heard this message 15 years ago.

Of all the things we "elders" are supposed to do, my dad did all of them. Of all the things the "youngsters" were supposed to do, I did none of them. The biggest being blowing off the elders and not listening to what they had to say.

For 29 years I tried to prove my dad wrong. Everytime I made a decision about life and he told me what I should do or what he would do, I did the opposite. He ended up always being right.

It was last October that the light came on when he said, "Heather, why do you think that I'm right about this stuff?" I had no answer and after a long pause he said, "Because I made those same mistakes."

There was a quote in church today that said something to the effect of "Learn from the mistakes of others because you won't live long enough to make them all yourself."

But what keeps coming back to me is his constant push of getting my kids into church. He kept telling me that it didn't matter if I didn't want to go, that I owed it to them to take them. He told me for years that he only went for our sake. Being the know-it-all that I was, I didn't understand that.

But today, I understand.

It's been reiterated to me several times and driven home today that if you raise a child in a Godly manner, if they turn their back from God, they will eventually come back.

Yes, I know that in Proverbs 22:6 it says

Train a child in the way he should go,
and when he is old he will not turn from it.

But sometimes I have to see it. I've been waiting to "see" it when it finally dawned on me that I was "it"…

My dad trained me the way I should go. He even said to me not too long ago that he knew when I turned 18 I would turn my back from it but that he knew one day I would figure out that there might be something to this God thing.

Know how he knew?

Because he did the same thing.

I have a lot of making up to do with my dad. I know the relationship that we have is in large part my fault. Perhaps one day I can repay him for all the things that I've done or didn't do.

But today, I wish him a very happy birthday with many more to come.

I need him around. I have many more mistakes to make that he may be able to save me from — now that I'm in the position to listen.

I love you, Dad!

Until next time…

Heather