To My Husband, on Father's Day

I don’t always tell you how important you are, but the stability you add to our family is foundational.

Thank you for going to work every day. Until I started working again after all the kids were in school, I forgot how hard it can be to leave home. I know there are days you’d rather work on all the projects we have going around the house, so thank you for working so we have money to pay the bills and that all important insurance.
 
Thank you for helping the kids with their math. I would be utterly lost and our children would flounder without your help. 

Thank you for going to church every Sunday, sometimes right after you get off a night shift at the hospital. The not-so-young-anymore kids still clamor to sit by you. Thank you, too, for making family devotions a priority each night. You are teaching our kids to put God first. 

Thank you for watching the movies and T.V. shows the kids want to watch instead of the documentaries you love. Someday you won’t have to share the T.V. 

Thank you for taking the kids fishing. Untangling their lines and keeping fresh worms on their hooks keep you from fishing, but the kids come home smiling and loving the time you spent with them. 

Thank you for helping the older ladies at church get to their cars, and for fixing the lawn mower for the single woman you work with, and making sure our kids shovel the widow’s drive-way next door to your mom’s. You are teaching them to serve and keep their eyes open for opportunities to bless others.

Thank you for jumping on board with my crazy ideas, which usually cause you extra work. My vision without your practical skills would mean a lot of good ideas lying in the dust. Imagination married to realization teaches our kids it’s ok to dream, especially when you are around people who can put legs on your ideas.  
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Thank you for noticing and engaging our children's friends. They think you are incredibly fun to be around because you take an interest in them. 

And thank you for not giving up. I know there have been times, many times, that giving up would have been the easiest and most practical thing to do, but your perseverance speaks to the rest of us. Some days are one foot in front of the other, but we persevere, knowing God is with us.

"A good father is one of the most unsung, unpraised, unnoticed, and yet one of the most valuable assets in our society." -- Billy Graham, Christian Evangelist and Author

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Author: Amber Swenson

​​Amber has a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Creative Writing and Literature. She has authored four books; two of them (Bible Moms and The Whisper Theory) are in print and two (The Bread of Angels and Ladies of Legacy) are in various stages of publication. Both her Bible studies and her novels are written in an effort to bring single, married, young and older women to a closer relationship with their Savior Jesus Christ. She also authors a weekly blog found on facebook under "Bible Moms" or at "biblemoms.wordpress.com".