Brent is a good daddy. I know he’s only been a daddy for a few years, but he’s been a good, good daddy all those years. And he’s such a good daddy, that I’d like to commend him. Because it seems like really good daddies are pretty rare. And every kid in the whole world, they all need a good dad, but not everyone has one. And sometimes my heart is so full of thankfulness that God would give my kids, (my prized possessions) such a good man to protect and lead them, that I just have to spill it out and tell you how wonderful he is. So, here it is. This is what makes Brent such a good daddy man.

Firstly, and really importantly, Brent loves me. He loves his kids by first loving his wife. That’s pretty rare. He’s intentional about staying connected to me. He calls throughout the day, sends emails my way, takes me on dates, comes home every night. He’s faithful. He loves me well by forgiving me when I screw up and talking it through with me when we’re not on the same page. He’s pretty swell. I mean, he’s not perfect. No way, hosea. Sometimes he can be a jerk. But, the good thing is, he soon recognizes when he’s a jerk and he says, “Wow…I was a jerk,” and I forgive him. So, that helps. That helps a lot.

And Brent’s a good daddy because he spends time with his kids. There’s lots of evenings when he gets home from work that I’m sure he’d really rather go upstairs, shut the door and watch never-ending slam-dunk contests on the YouTube machine. Or check sports scores till there were no more sports scores to check. (Although I’m thinking that might be impossible.) But, he doesn’t do that. He walks right in, puts his stuff down and wrestles with the kids. And believe me, they come running. And pouncing. And screaming. And laughing. Because who doesn’t want to wrestle with their daddy?

He tucks them in. He reads them books. He lets them sit on his lap while he mows the lawn. He goes on walks with us. He’s not too busy. Which is probably why he always feels far behind on house projects. But, that’s okay. Because twenty years from now, he probably won’t be sad that he didn’t change our light fixtures. But, he might regret if he didn’t pay attention to all those growing up years. And kids really need their daddies to pay attention. To pay close attention. And so far, Brent does. He’s good at that.

But, you know why I think Brent is so good at this stuff? Well, I think it’s because he depends on His Heavenly Daddy. A lot. So many times, Brent feels the weight of not measuring up. He feels the panic of not getting it all right. Sometimes he blows it–maybe he wasn’t patient when one of the kids didn’t obey, or he was annoyed that Gideon in all his “helping” wasn’t exactly helping. But, when he feels this way, he just asks God for forgiveness and help. Brent’s not too prideful to realize that he just can’t do it on his own. He needs help to be a good daddy. And God–He’s a good Daddy. And He loves His children with the deepest, most attentive kind of love, so He knows how to help. And I’ve witnessed it, over and over I’ve witnessed, how a Heavenly Daddy helps an earthly daddy be the kind of man he was intended to be. A strong protector. A humble servant. A tender shepherd.

And it’s beautiful, the witnessing of this. Just so beautiful. And I’m thankful.