Manna and Coffee

“Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” – Matthew 5:48

Good morning dad. I love you so much. I’m looking through lots of wonderful pictures of families honoring their fathers on Father’s Day. I know these pictures make you smile too, because you created these families. I decided that I would take the time to write a little note of appreciation for you this morning.

Thank you dad for loving me when I forget to love you or others as well as I should. Help me to love my children and wife sacrificially the way that Jesus does. I am so thankful that my family all knows you and have claimed your son Jesus as the Lord of their lives. Help them to learn how to love others sacrificially too.

Thank you dad for my friends who know all of my faults and love me anyways. Help me to love my imperfect brothers and sisters back as a demonstration my love for you. Remind me to pray for them and to be brave enough to continually remind them of what Jesus did for us. Life can be hard enough walking with you. It’s even harder walking through life without you.

Thank you dad for creating such an interesting and beautiful world for us to experience and care for. Forgive us when we take our world for granted and don’t care for it in the way you asked us to. Help us to remember to take the time to listen to the birds and the wind in the trees. Help us to appreciate the snow capped mountains and to find rest in the sound of the crashing ocean waves. Help us to still ourselves long enough to feel the heat of the rising sun on our faces. Your presence is all around us if we slow down long enough to notice.

Happy Fathers Day dad. We love you. Help us earthly fathers to live our lives in such a way that our family and friends think of you when they think of us. You alone are worthy of all praise and honor for ever and ever, amen.