dear daddy,
i know i totally dropped the ball and didn’t call you on father’s day, and i’m sorry about that! but know that i was thinking about you all day and i wanted to express my appreciation and love for you.
you know, a lot of the women and children that i do life with here in Kenya don’t have a husband/father around and i’ve realized that a lot of the hardships that they face are a direct result of that. mothers are left to step into a role that fathers should shoulder and it’s difficult: children grow up without an authoritative yet loving male presence in their life that greatly shapes who they will grow up to become. so thank you for sticking around during the hard times because i can now see what it would be like to have grown up without you.
i’m not tooting my own horn here, but i have a deep sense of worth and identity and that’s greatly attributed to you, dad. i’m secure in who i am because you have always believed in me. i have never been in want when under your wing: your role as a provider of the family has contributed to the foundation that no matter where i am and what i’m doing, i will be taken care of.
a lot of how i view God as a father comes from how i view you as my earthly father. and here’s what i’ve discovered: i’m deeply and inexplicably loved by both, which enables me to do pretty much anything. now unfortunately for you, that might mean going to dangerous countries that you don’t exactly want me going to and asking people for money to help me get there, and i know that doesn’t always sit well with you either. yet, even when His word sometimes (initially) overrules yours, you always come around and you always support me.
dad, you’ve always supported me. through every family vacation that was actually a soccer tournament, through every procrastinated school project you helped me whip out just in the nick of time, through every crazy country that you’ve reluctantly let me go to, you’ve always shown me your love and support. it speaks volumes of a man and of a father when he can listen and encourage his rogue of a daughter to take on the world when everything inside is screaming at him to keep her safe and sound, within his grasp. and it’s true: part of your duty as a father is to protect and love me and, let’s be real here, i don’t exactly make either of those two things easy to do sometimes!
plis, we both know that i’ve had my fair share of battles with all kinds of authority, including yours, and i think i’ve finally learned how to submit and support as well as to respect and honor authority. God had a lot to do with fixing this issue in my heart and i’m sorry that you were all too frequently my test dummy on this one. but thank you for the times you put your foot down and exercised your God-given authority in a firm yet loving way.
so thank you for all of the times that you said ‘no’ even when i severely disliked you for it. thank you for showing me how to love and be loved. thank you for providing a secure place to call home. thank you for explicitly displaying qualities of leadership, of comfort, of hospitality, of providence, of compassion, of steadfastness, even of discipline.
and thank you, thank you for passing along your iron stomach onto me. (it helps immensely in kenya.)
te quiero mucho, papi.
much Love.
