When there is a need....before a request can form on my lips, there you are...giving, doing. humble, yet strong you are there....present. How I desperately want to be like you yet feel the thoughts sneak in sometimes...more times then I want. For me it is easy to think of myself, I have to make a conscious effort to push back those selfish needs. but then there is you. It is although you were not made that way. I have never seen you think of yourself. Never heard you complain. never even a grumble. your heart only knows how to serve. knows only how to think of others. how pure and gracious you are.
When there are moments of happiness, there you are mirroring my smile, present, sharing in the bliss.
I remember a time when my life seemed to be crumbling down around me. The fear crippling, the pain so strong I felt sick. It was all I could do but collapse on my bed, trying to catch my breath. There you were. I didn't have to ask you not to leave...because I already knew you would stay. Your loving, presence, there with me, right by me. You reached over, took my hand in yours and held tight, and i knew you'd be there, there supporting me through this because thats what you do...my constant, loving Dad...there.
When I had two tiny brand new lives...both needing so much love, needing to be held, cared for, nurtured, and I only had two arms, there you were, every night, straight from work. With open arms. ready to hold, help, lay one little heart beat against yours. Filling them up with what they needed, sacrifice...love.
Now with my boys a few years older, I see it. The way they look at you. It is in their eyes. Deep adoration. Every day how they run to you, uncontainable happiness that you are home. It is because you invest in them. You give them yourself. Your attention, your time... even what little you have. Working from before the sun comes up, driving countless miles, you must be exhausted but no-one would ever know. You do so much, every single day. And then you arrive home and don't ask for a moment to yourself. Instead, you wrap your arms around them. Those strong, but gentle, patient serving arms around my boys and pour love into their little hearts. Just like you do to me, to us, to all.
