***** Through the stories I relay to my children, my father is still able to teach from heaven. ***** First, you must know that these six pics of my #11 running in for a touchdown and then running in for an extra point (after another teammate scored a touchdown) leaves my heart basking in pure joy! But heres the other side....the *heart* of this story: My Gator is one of the short guys on his football team. Sometimes this bothers him... Not all the time, but sometimes. He will sometimes wonder aloud to me why hes not tall like his big brother. Hes a confident kid and will use humor and confidence to deflect this insecurity. But its there sometimes. The first time he mentioned to me that this was bothersome to him, I stopped what I was doing and looked at him directly in his eyes and said, Now Gator, you listen to me....first of all, you have NO idea how tall you will be. Only God knows that. But let me tell you somethin (as I point towards him and begin talking like a motivational coach before a big game), What you might lack in height RIGHT NOW?.....you MORE than make up for in your speed, your agility, your skill level, your desire and especially your heart! Your heart is your greatest weapon son! Do you understand?? You are perfection! Absolute perfection just as you are! Do you understand what Im saying?! You are EVERYTHING I ever hoped for in a son. Dont you EVER regret ONE THING about yourself! About this point in my speech, Kevin walks in and says flatly, Uh, whatd I miss. Before I could utter a word, Gator chirped, Aw nuthin much, but you might wanna hold her Mommy Goggles for a minute while I go find my cleats. Wait! What? I most certainly am not wearing mommy goggles. Every word of what I just said is true! Kevin laughed smugly and said, You really are putting a lot of wear on tear on those things lately. I turned back around to huffily clean my counters and all I can utter is, Well, youre mean. Ha! Later that day, I was at the game, sitting by my Aunt Betty. I was relaying some of this to her when she smiled and said, Slade is so much like your daddy, Teri Ann. I smiled and felt that old familiar lump. She said, I remember we were at the church one Sunday when a young father brought his small son up to the front of the church to see Tommy. The man explained to your daddy that his son felt defeated because he wasnt as tall or as strong as his football teammates. I was already smiling not even knowing the end to this story because I just knew it was going to end special. Aunt Betty had a catch in her throat, but continued on, Teri Ann, your daddy held up his hand to this little boy and smiled. He said, Do you see this? My hands arent very big, are they? The little boy shook his head and stood there mesmerized. Then your daddy put his hand over his heart and looked at that little boy straight in his eyes and said, what matters isnt the size of your hand, but rather the size of your heart. So play with your whole heart and nothing can ever stop you. Of course, I had tears stinging my eyes. And so did Aunt Betty. She said that little boy had a new outlook and was happy as can be when he walked out of church that day. These are the stories I relay to my children. Not only does it keep their grandfather alive, it gives them perspective and wisdom from another time and place. God is so good in this way. :) My Gator always plays with his whole heart. And I know how much it means to him to do good for his football brothers. These captured moments of when he did just that, make me wanna cry happy tears!! ((And these moments also make me miss my dad even more.)) But my children all know, without a doubt, that he is for sure watching and cheering them on. The only difference is that NOW, hes watching from the best seat in the house. ;-)
Posted on: Mon, 27 Oct 2014 16:39:03 +0000