First Baptist Church of Herndon

A Father's Love

Linda Soller | Nov 11, 2012

On October 31, 2012 my father lost his fight with cancer and passed. It is hard to watch your loved ones suffer. It is hard to watch a vibrant person grow frail. It is so very hard. Though my dad was not perfect and would be the first to say it, he held a special place in many hearts. I grew to understand that he recognized his shortcomings even if he did not try to fix them, that he embraced each day with a smile especially if that day included golf, that he enjoyed learning and could say something in such a tone that you believed he knew what he was talking about even if he did not, and that he was competitive to the core. My father was a natural athlete, a teacher, a coach, a loyal friend, and a man who loved his family more than anything in the world. His love was unconditional.

All too often we do not appreciate something or someone until it is too late or they are lost to us. I am lucky that I always appreciated my dad (well, almost always). He allowed me to fail, which I know was hard for him. He challenged me to be a better person, not a perfect person, but a better person. He was there to support me. When I think of fathers in the Bible I often think of the story of the prodigal son. That father gave his young son wings to fly then welcomed him back even though you might say the son had crashed and burned. I think the father knew it would be a difficult homecoming for his older son, but he provided such an amazing example of unconditional love. The workers and community people must have wondered how he could feel such love after his foolish son had squandered his inheritance. But you see they missed a very basic point. One’s inheritance cannot be added on a sheet of numbers, it transcends the material world.

Jesus understood this when he told the story. As he did so often, Jesus took a situation that people could relate to and tied it to a lesson in faith and love. Do not keep score, do not hold on to anger, love as though there is no tomorrow for sooner than you ever imagined there may not be a tomorrow. God loves us like there will be no tomorrow, unconditionally, with a father’s love. Have a great week :o)

Linda