Once there was a father, who took his daughter to a pizza parlor. While the father and his daughter were waiting for the pizza, the waiter began to talk to them. He told them about how he had a tooth problem and was working extra hours to save up money for dental work, as he did not have insurance to help alleviate the high cost.
After the man and the girl had gotten the pizza, they walked outside to the car. Upon arriving, the man noted that he had forgotten something inside, telling his daughter, “I’ll be right back. Wait here.” The girl, nosy and deeply curious, of course disobeyed and quietly followed back, watching through a side window. She watched as her father pulled bills out of his wallet and gave them to the waiter, as he shook his hand and wished him well and success. She hurried back to the car before her father returned. The pizza burned hot on her lap as they went home, and the wind blew her hair in all directions, but her heart felt light.
She never forgot her father’s love in that act, or his generosity. She never forgot that example that he set, one she hopes that she walks in, and will walk in for the rest of her life. It was a lesson in loving people, in helping others, in giving freely of what we have because it has been given to us by a loving and gracious God.
Fathers, I hope you know that you are setting an example, even when you don’t think your children are watching. Every time you love your wife, or show integrity, your children see this. In Genesis 18, God says that Abraham will become a great nation, because Abraham has been chosen so that “he will direct his children and his household after him and keep the way of the Lord…”
So, Dad? Thanks for being such a good example to me that day in the pizza parlor, and in the many days that have come since.
I love you.
