Dad Post: To Build a House

This post was supposed to be published on 9/30/14. Whoops.

Does a person ever grow out of that stage of wanting to please her parents? I still have not. Whether I'm cleaning my house or choosing a new car, I find myself wondering what my parents would think. For example: sometime over the course of my marriage, I switched to use a mop rather than cleaning the floor by hand. This was to save time and make it easier to do an onerous task that otherwise would probably not get done. It's been years since the change and I still, to this day, have my mother's voice in my head explaining why the floor gets cleaner when you wash it by hand. Every. Single. Time. The worst part is, I know she's right.

My dad is a great thinker, literally. He thinks for long amounts of time and about very specific things. This makes him an excellent planner and follow-through-er. Luckily, I picked up some of his habits and usually have some sort of logical plan in place for most of my daily activities (though they may not be logical for the lay observer). I also inherited his sense of direction, taste for coffee, and stocky calf muscles. Unfortunately, I did not inherit his endurance for hard work. He is always doing things . . . and usually for other people!

Since his retirement, my dad works odd jobs around town, through his church, and at home and volunteers for clean up after natural disasters all over the country. He's gone a lot these days, traveling to scrape mud out of houses or building an addition for a church. He comes home with plenty of stories, too.

One trend I've noticed during his adventures is that his focus is not entirely, or even mostly, on the physical labor he's doing. Oh, he'll show me pictures of the progress they've made (proud of a job well done!) but what he tells me while showing these pictures are stories about people. He'll talk about how the team he was on worked really well together, the hosts were really kind and hospitable, or the neighbors had lots of questions about his faith or why he was helping.

What I learned from my Dad growing up and what I see even more clearly as an adult, is . . . well, it's a lot of things. But the two main points I'm making now are:

1. Whatever you do, do it to the best of your ability.

2. Meeting people's practical needs opens the door for meeting their spiritual needs.

So, when I go to my job and I feel tired, I push through. When I see a practical need around me, I consider meeting it. When I'm inspired by nature or challenged by worldly concerns or just happy to be doing a job that needs done, I'm reminded of him. And I praise God for my family.