Just some early morning thoughts from me to you…
“Cause I’ve been watching you Dad, ain’t that cool…I’m your buckaroo; I wanna be like you.”
“Watching You” by Rodney Atkins
Looking back now—that’s how I remembered it as a little boy at the age of ten.
In everything. Sitting next to him at dinner. Waiting to see what dessert he picked, so I could pick the same dessert as my Dad, when there was a choice. Singing in the church choir with him. Learning to play his favorite card game—Casino.
Watching his favorite television show with him. Walking outside with him to wherever he was going. Watching and waving goodbye as he drove off to work, and waiting at the curb for him to return. Looking for him in the stands time-after-time during my Little League baseball games.
I was always watching for him, waiting for him. Reminds me of the words of this song by Rodney Adkins—
“Driving through town just my boy and me, with a Happy Meal in his booster seat…
Green traffic light turned straight to red.
I hit my brakes and mumbled under my breath,
As fries went flying and his orange drink covered his lap.
Well then my four-year-old said a four-letter word,
that started with “s” and I was concerned,
So I said…“Son now where’d you learn to talk like that.”
It was a heart thing that made my Dad my idol. I suppose that’s how God sets it up with our children, grandchildren, and others who watch us and need us to know which way to grow in life, and then watches from Heaven hoping the sacred trust of their little lives which He has placed in our hands is nurtured by us.
It was the time my Dad gave me—his presence, his looks of affirmation, his touch, his gentle words of encouragement in some of the early years—that mattered.
Circumstances and decisions he made during the years that followed, though, caused the pedestal I had placed him on to crumble. And in its place—a broken and knotted heart—until it was loosened and softened years later through God’s Grace and by my forgiveness and understanding toward him.
And my son said—
“I’ve been watching you Dad, ain’t that cool,
I’m your buckaroo; I wanna be like you,
And eat all my food and grow as tall as you are,
Then I’ll be as strong as you and superman,
We’ll be just alike, hey…won’t we Dad?”
There are children in our homes, extended families, neighborhoods, on the ball fields, in our schools, on the streets where we walk, who are watching us, looking up to us, and often longing to be like us. They may even be grown. They probably think we can do just about anything. They may want to do what they see us do.
Do we see them? They are there—in our homes, neighborhoods, schools, work, everywhere.
Or do we walk by them, rationalizing that they are someone else’s concern, or if we acknowledge them as our concern, but only when we have more time?
By our example, we will show them the path they should walk. I wonder where their footsteps will lead them.
When was the last time you took a moment with them? When was the last time you called your son or daughter, just to tell them hello—no correction or checking up on something—just checking in.
When was the last time you called, or took a moment with someone, maybe someone in your family, who needed a lift in life; like I watched a dear friend of mine do the other day, in the midst of a busy schedule, with a person who was all alone in life, who had called him and had no one else with whom to talk?
Maybe you will be the only one in their life who took the time.
“Cause I’ve been watching you Dad…I wanna be like you.”
Here’s the grace—no matter what was before, no matter what regrets you or I may have for not having taken the time before—today is a brand new day, and it’s never too late to do better.
Just something for us to think about as we begin another week in our lives, and they do in their lives.
In His Name—Scott
Copyright 2013. Scott L. Whitaker. All rights reserved.
