Dad's Love is Unending . . .

I love my dad.  How do I love him?   Let me count the ways.  I can't.  They are too innumerable to do so.  I can start with some basics though.  Growing up, he was my hero.  Someone I could depend on and I knew with every fibre of my being that he would do anything and everything to protect me from harm.  I could cry on his shoulder if I needed to or laugh myself silly with him.  He was, and still is, a rock steady presence in my life.

In 2008 when he told us he had cancer, it felt like I had been hit in the chest with a baseball bat and simultaneously had the floor ripped out from under me.  I railed against God, I cried, begged, pleaded, and tried to make deals.  To please spare him.  I could not imagine continuing on without my dad around.  It was way to awful to comprehend.  He's still around, and grateful does not even begin to describe how I feel.

He was here yesterday.  Working hard.  He's always working hard.  No complaints, just doing his utmost to take care of his family, his kids.  We, his kids, are all in our thirties, married, and have our own children.  And my dad still takes care of us.  I don't know that when he was growing up this is what he dreamed he'd be doing.   I don't imagine it involved traveling away from his home every week for a job.  That's what he does though.  And in the very little spare time he has, he looks after his dad, my mom, his kids, and tries to get quality time in with his grand kids too.

I got to thinking that there is nothing I've done to deserve his love.  It's just there.  Like the air I breathe.  His love, his care, always constant.  After his surgery for the cancer he did something really special.  He had necklaces and pendants made, specially designed by him, for each of his girls.  They have the Chinese character for the word love imprinted on them.  On the back he had each one inscribed.  They are all different.  Mine has “Dad's love is unending.”  Powerful.  It had me in tears.  No matter what, no matter how long, no matter the distance, his love for me is unending.

Over and above my dad's love for me, is God's love for me, for all of us.  A constant presence, never ending, no matter the distance, no matter the time, no matter what.  HE will always be there for us to depend on, no matter how undeserving we are.  Unchanging, unceasing, unconditional, unwavering, unending.  How great is that?

I am so grateful for a dad who exemplifies a Christ-led life.  A man whose caring and devotion to his family is a human example of the greater love of God.  I need to be clear, my dad is not God, nor is he perfect in the eyes of the world, but he strives daily toward the goal that God has promised us all.  Eternity with HIM.  And so with a prayer of thanks on my lips and a smile in my heart, I am so thankful to have been blessed with the amazing dad I have.