This is a picture of my father’s baseball glove. He passed away about a year and a half ago and I still miss him a lot. My mom brought this glove to me because my son just started baseball. As I started playing catch with my boy, I started to tear up as I remembered the special times I had playing catch with my Dad. I feel like it was yesterday. I would eagerly wait for my dad to get home from work so we could play catch. He worked hard, got up early, and had a long commute, but he was never too tired to play ball. He used this time to talk to me, ask me questions, and to teach me the important nuances of the game. I just loved spending time with him.
As I look at that glove, I think of my father’s love. Now that I have children of my own, I want to know how to be a loving father like him. I know it sounds cliche, but when it comes to love, actions speak louder than words. As fathers, we can come up with a lot of excuses on why we can’t spend quality time with our kids. Work, watching the game, working out, or even ministry, can be obstacles to spending time with the kids. We only have 940 Saturdays to spend with our child before they turn eighteen. By the time they are five years old, 260 of those Saturdays are gone! Time is precious and time is of the essence. James 4:14 says, “What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.” We only have a short time, a “mist,” to mold and teach our children. My father understood this. Looking back at my life I don’t want to say I sacrificed special moments with my children for a larger salary, fancier vacation, or deeper retirement fund.
Each time my Dad played catch with me he was saying he loved me. Not with words, but with actions. It wasn’t a chore to him; he enjoyed spending time with his children. He was displaying the same love that our Heavenly Father has for us. God wants to spend time with us. He wants to talk to us through prayer and time in the Word. He wants to take care of us. Our Heavenly Father loves us!
On this Father’s Day I want to ask you this simple question: How are you spending your time? Are you using every available moment to love and instruct your children? Are you creating memories with backyard camping or have you settled for peace and quiet while the kids play video games? It’s not an easy task. It’s tiring, but there will be plenty of time to rest in Heaven!
“And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” - Deuteronomy 6:6-9.