An Arrow in Your Hand

One Father's Day a few years back I was asked to share. This is a little note I read to my Dad:

Dad you'll never know how you guided me as a child. For as a little girl I saw you pray. I saw you kneel beside your bed and not just once or in a time of special need or trial but every night before closing your eyes. You probably didn't know I saw you there.

You demonstrated what true love was as I saw you love my Mother. You did not show a lot of outward affection as we see so much of today, but you showed true love when you treated her with honor and respect. I never heard you fight or felt discord in our house and you never embarrassed her or spoke disrespectfully to her. I just want you to know I noticed.

I saw the passion you felt when you talked about God and you made me hunger and thirst for righteousness too. You showed me that there was always more of God for me and sometimes it required sacrifice and decisions that others might not understand. Did you know that is what you were teaching me?

I saw you battle a disease that you could not overcome, until you were so week you could not get out of bed, yet, I never heard you complain. And in the end I felt the presence of God fill the room you were in, Jesus was there... God had come for a man who had lived his life as an example not only for his children and grandchildren but for all who knew him and set a mark for them to follow. Thank you for the life you lived, the example you left, and the mark that you set before me. You pointed me in the way that I should go.

From an Arrow you once held in your hand. I miss you Dad.

I pray that you consider the arrow that you hold in your hand. Are you leaving an example that will help them hit the mark and follow the path that God has planned for them?