Dad,

Today, I am so very grateful that in the year 2020, you are still physically here, being my Daddy. Even though we are hours apart, it is such a blessing and a comfort to know that I can pick up the phone and hear your voice of reassurance that I am loved, no matter what.

I have been thinking about the father in the book of Luke this morning. I’ve been thinking about how all of your children have, at one time, been prodigals in one way or another. We’ve gone away…and no matter what, you’ve welcomed us all back with open arms, eager to see us, loving us in spite of our poor decisions, our detours, our differences in politics, our diversity in the way we’ve lived.

I have been thinking about how hard you worked all the years we were being raised, how I don’t remember a time when you stayed home because you were sick or just wanted to take a day off – you lived us an example of working hard and staying committed to a job, no matter what.

I have been thinking about how there were years when you and Mom struggled, but how you both endured, and how you were with her to the very end of her days here on earth, no matter what.

I have been thinking about how you read so much. You inspire me to read and keep my mind active and filled with learning. You read all kinds of things, but the best thing you read? You made a commitment to read your Bible every day, no matter what.

I have been thinking about how you are facing difficulty now – with health, with changes to your lifestyle, with hard decisions to make, and handling it without mom to take over and just get it all done like she used to do. It makes me very sad, but it also makes me so very proud of you – you are the Dad I have always had: the one who can do anything, the one who is stronger than all the others, the one who may be facing a mountain, but he has a joke and a smile for the journey.

I love you, Dad. I am so proud of you and how you handle life, and I am so, so very grateful for you.

Happy Father’s Day,

Your very grateful prodigal daughter – no matter what.