A Father’s Wisdom
There are many things my daddy said to me over the years that find their way back to my heart at different moments in life. Maybe you have sweet dad-isms that stick with you.
Whenever things felt rocky in life, daddy always told me to “Hang on”! He had a gruff voice. Being in the Navy most of his life, he smoked a lot of cigarettes…and it sounded like it! Even in the rasp of his voice, there was a soothing comfort I always felt when he spoke.
When I got my feelings hurt “hang on, kitty cat.”
When I learned to ride a bike, “hang on. I got you!”
Then there was that one time…
Before the days when seat belts were a law, we had an incident. We were driving on one of the old cobblestone roads in Winter Park, taking my momma to school.
I was in the backseat alone, and I somehow opened the car door while the vehicle was moving. In an instant, my 3-year-old little body flew out of the car and I was clinging to the edge of the door, while my feet were barely scrapping the passing road underneath me. Pretty crazy, right?
Thankfully, I don’t even remember this event. But loved hearing my parents and sister retell the story of how traumatic it was. I’m picturing how scary that must have been for my parents, seeing their daughter clinging for her life.
My dad was so smart in that moment to slow the car down to a stop to grab me, instead of slamming on the breaks and possibly crushing me. My favorite part of the story (if there is one) was hearing my dad revisit screaming to me “hang on, baby!” Hang on!” over and over until he saved me and me yelling back to him “I’m hanging on, daddy!”
All throughout my life, he encouraged me to keep hanging on, no matter how tough things were. It’s been twenty Father’s Days since I’ve heard his voice, yet I can still hear him. I promised him on the day he died, that I would keep hanging on. Until we see each other again.
If your heart is weary and you need help hanging on today, God’s word can be life for you today. A soothing voice.
5 thoughts on “A Father’s Wisdom”
Oh My I did that in a Parking Lot . scary . My dad’s Helpful advice would be Do your Best . if someone sees your trying it will be Ok . I Needed Psalms 46.1 today as tomorrow Tues . June 23 is Kidney surgery for me . I am Trusting in Him to be my strength !!!!! . Thank You , sue
Hi sweetie! I have been praying for you! Hope the procedure went well. Love you ⚓️💗
Tyler,
I needed to hear your message of “Hold On”! There are many days that in the ministry, even though you’re serving and doing what you know Jesus would do, it gets weary and sometimes to the point that you don’t think you can catch your breath. I’ve been having one of those weeks, so thank you for the reminder. Hold On, I got this!
God sees you!! You are so amazing. Thank you for serving so well! Love you! ⚓️💗
Wow, that is terrifying! Something similar happened to me but I actually fell out, right in front of everyone outside my elementary school! My mom always stopped across the street and let the crossing guard cross me to the side of the street that the school was on. Well apparently the guard wasn’t standing there and there were very few people/cars so at the same time that I grabbed the door handle, my mom decided to make a U-turn so she could leave me in right in front of the school. The door flew open and me with it. Thankfully I only scraped my elbow. I also remember getting a kick out of telling my friends at the playground that I wasn’t at school because I fell out of a car that morning! haha.