I’d like to think my husband is a good father. On any fatherhood aptitude test, he’d knock it out the park!
He is a patient man! I mean, you’d have to be in order to endure the most determined of gut punches from a relentless three-year-old little boy. And to be honest, some of those land in “parts unknown” (if ya know what I mean), which takes the utmost stamina to withstand.
Each day he leaves for work, my hubby humors our three kids’ insistence on carrying out their tailor-made goodbye rituals, some of which last one whole minute per kid! During the slow-ticking sixty seconds, he receives repeated forehead and cheek kisses, a nose rub and in the words of our son Curt-Curt, a “pound it” (or fist bump) for good measure.
But what floors me the most, is how he handles times of pressure. I would say he takes the cake every time by remaining cool-headed in these trying situations. That’s actually what I admire the most about his parenting style. I learn a lot just by watching him manage overly worked tears, emotional breakdowns and in many times complete madness.
Wait, that’s from me!
But seriously, he really impresses me when we face a crisis of some sort with our kids. This is why when midnight drama ensues from one of them, I usually follow his lead.
I know I’ve written about our kids’ twilight escapades before. I’m writing about them now in this post and I’m pretty sure I’ll write about them again. It just happens that way when you have young children.
For the last day or so, we’ve been dealing with a developing situation in which one of our kids has been struggling with fear. This isn’t foreign to us. And quite honestly, I can’t complain because for years, my poor parents dealt with the same antics from me.
The running joke that I can’t live down at any family dinner is how I laid claim to a spot right on the edge of my sister’s bed. This happened more nights than I’d like to admit up until I was thirteen!
So, you’d think what I’m going through with my own kid would be a cake walk. But it’s funny how now that I’m on the other side of things as a parent, my child’s fear seems completely unreasonable!
Last night, against our typical rule of thumb when it comes to sleeping arrangements, it was evident we needed to budge a little and allow this child a space in our bed. All signs were pointing to a meltdown if we didn’t. And let’s face it, who really wants to deal with that at 1 A.M.?!
Once we turned on a light, closed the door to our dark closet and the child in question was safely cradled in daddy’s arms you would’ve thought that would’ve been the end of it.
Well, not this time. Their little body quivered even more. The tears continued to flow and that tiny face was buried deeper under the blankets.
Remember how I said I’m not typically as long suffering when it comes to these sorts of things? Well, just as I began to wonder how this set up didn’t resolve things, I then knew our coaxing was falling on deaf ears. Despite the obvious fact, Mommy and Daddy were right there.
Next, we tried a different approach. We sang worship songs to try and soothe this troubled heart. Our hope was that singing about the enduring truths of who God is would calm them.
Wrong again! It turns out my 1 A.M. “husky register” is not for the faint of heart!
Even playing the worship song, “Good Good Father”, popularized by contemporary Christian artist Chris Tomlin, on our iPhone couldn’t solve our dilemma.
With nothing else to lose, we decided to turn in prayer to the one to whom we sang.
It was then the good, Good Father stepped in.
Before we could utter an amen, all shaking had subsided. Hyperventilation ceased and the soft rising and falling of our young one’s chest indicated sleep had found its rightful place with this child.
I was blown away how as soon as we entrusted the ultimate care of our child to their Heavenly Father, he did the rest.
This doesn’t mean my husband isn’t a good dad or that I’m a subpar mom. No, we aren’t too shabby as parents if I say so myself (lol).
But it was in this moment I was reminded of Psalm 139:13, 15-18. It’s a clear picture of how the Good Father cares for His children.
It says:
“You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body
and knit me together in my mother’s womb…
You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion,
as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.
You saw me before I was born.
Every day of my life was recorded in your book.
Every moment was laid out
before a single day had passed.
How precious are your thoughts about me,[b] O God.
They cannot be numbered!
I can’t even count them;
they outnumber the grains of sand!”
Hands down, the Good Father is a much better father than the most deserving recipient of that oversized hand-shaped foam glove scrawled with the words “#1 Dad”!
He. Just. Is.
Period.
The way I saw God the Father intervene and take care of our child right before our eyes was breathtaking. Once he stepped in, our warm-hearted calming attempts couldn’t compare. He showed us right then and there that he truly is not only a good father, but THE good, good Father!!
Thanks for reading! If this encouraged you, feel free to share it and if you haven’t done so already, feel free to hit the “follow me” button so you can get more posts like this!
Blessings,
Courtney
Oh, and in case you were wondering, this is how my 1 A.M. solo was supposed to go!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCnYC3l3ddk
