Dear Dad

Dear Dad,

I miss your warm smile. I miss the way you enjoyed small things. You could spot a blessing that the rest of us missed because we were too jaded by big or expensive or new. I miss how you sometimes laughed so hard you could hardly talk to tell us what was so funny. You knew that the best things in life are free. So if something cost too much it became suspect. Cheap and simple equaled good.

I wish I had talked to you more about your memories. You were full of wisdom that came from walking closely with God for many years. It was a wisdom that was hard-won, born of both devotion and conflict. The Bible was always your compass. I wish I had asked more and listened more.

I am just starting to appreciate how deeply you loved God. Everything you did was infused with God and love for God. He was the air you breathed. And when you could barely breathe he inhaled you into himself. And now you are part of the air that I breathe.

Your loving son, Steve

Hear, my son, and accept my sayings
And the years of your life will be many.
I have directed you in the way of wisdom;
I have led you in upright paths.
Prov 4:10-11