Daddy's hands....

I am sitting here reflecting on Father's Day thinking about my Dad and how big his hands have always been to me. The song, Daddy's Hands by Holly Dunn, pretty much expresses what I feel for my Daddy.

I remember Daddy´s hands, folded silently in prayer.
And reaching out to hold me, when I had a nightmare.
You could read quite a story, in the callouses and lines.
Years of work and worry had left their mark behind.
I remember Daddy´s hands, how they held my Mama tight,
And patted my back, for something done right.
There are things that I´ve forgotten, that I loved about the man,
But I´ll always remember the love in Daddy´s hands.

Daddy's hands were soft and kind when I was cryin´.
Daddy´s hands, were hard as steel when I´d done wrong.
Daddy´s hands, weren´t always gentle
But I´ve come to understand.
There was always love in Daddy´s hands.

I remember Daddy´s hands, working 'til they bled.
Sacrificed unselfishly, just to keep us all fed.
If I could do things over, I´d live my life again.
And never take for granted the love in Daddy´s hands.
Daddy's hands were soft and kind when I was cryin´.
Daddy´s hands, were hard as steel when I´d done wrong.
Daddy´s hands, weren´t always gentle
But I´ve come to understand.
There was always love in Daddy´s hands.

Daddy's hands were soft and kind when I was cryin´.
Daddy´s hands, were hard as steel when I´d done wrong.
Daddy´s hands, weren´t always gentle
But I´ve come to understand.
There was always love .....In Daddy´s hands.

Those of you who know him know that he was a policeman and later a deputy sheriff. He has always been a pretty good sized man..6 foot 2 inches of broad shoulders and a trim 210 pounds for almost as long as I can remember. As Jimmy Dean would say in his song, Big John, "he was a giant of a man." Maybe it was because of his profession and the demeanor he had to have in that line of work but because of his size and at times his gruffness, I have always had a fear of him...I especially didn't want to make him mad or have him disappointed in me. As I have grown older and he has too, some of that gruffness has mellowed and he has become much more emotional. That tender side has always been there but it comes out more easily now than it used to.

I was down visiting with him and Mother yesterday and the strong, broad shouldered, 210 pound man I have known all my life, has shrunk some. Due to health issues (heart problems) he has had to be more careful about what he eats. As a result he is down to 182 pounds. He has lost that broad robust stature. You know when you are younger you think your parents will never grow old. But while watching him yesterday as he struggled with getting his shirt buttoned because his fingers are not as nimble as they once were, I realized that Daddy is suddenly an aged man. Time has caught up with him. Something I never thought would happen. It saddens me seeing him struggle with lifting things because his muscle mass is gone. Seeing him have to use a magnifying glass to read because he has difficulty seeing small print hurts my heart. Feeling his boney shoulders when I hug him where once there was hard muscles makes me realize that I need to cherish the moments because they are not going to be here forever.

I love him dearly even though for most of my life I have been scared of him...I still love him. It has been my joy to see him, over the last few years, be more interested in things of the Lord. He gets choked up when he tries to pray over a meal and hearing songs that he sang while in the Friendship Quartet brings tears to his eyes. Yes, God has tenderized him. He is still that giant of a man to me and will always be the toughest man I know, even as age has creeped up on him. But I guess it just hit me, the man I thought would never get old, has grown so before my eyes.