Birthday Blessings II

It was early May when I graduated from university with a degree in Education with two months left in the school year. This was conveniently the time when the Hutterian teachers at a nearby colony stopped teaching and went to university for the summer to work towards their degrees. And so, since I had a connection through my mom, I had been invited to fill in for the Grade 1-2 classroom for the remainder of the school year. But first, the leaders wanted to meet me and have a bit of an interview to ensure I was an appropriate candidate. My mom, being a known commodity, was also invited to this event.

So the evening came and mom and I went to the house of the Hutterian leader in charge of education at the colony. We had barely sat down on the couch offered to us when he exclaimed to me in English laced with their unique Tyrolean German accent, “You look like you're dead!” I was rather taken-aback and unsure of what to make of that comment. I mean, yes, I was a little nervous about this interview, but I didn't think I looked that bad. Should I be insulted? It didn't take long for me to realize, as he kept talking, that what he had really said was that I look like my Dad!

This is a comment I have received often throughout my life. Which I take as a compliment. But while I'm pleased to look like my dad in some ways, what would be more satisfying is if I could be like my dad in other ways: he is a man of deep faith and humility, a man of prayer, of firm conviction and kind understanding, a man confident in his God and in who he was created to be. I admire those things in him and would seek to develop those characteristics in myself. I feel this passage describes the way my Dad lives his life, which I pray will be long and fruitful. I am honored and blessed to have him as my Dad. Happy Birthday, Dad!

Trust in the Lord and do good;

dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.

Delight yourself in the Lord

and He will give you the desires of your heart.

Commit your way to the Lord;

trust in Him and He will do this:

He will make your righteousness

shine like the dawn,

the justice of your cause like the noonday sun.

Be still before the Lord

and wait patiently for Him.

If the Lord delights in a man's ways,

He makes his steps firm;

though he stumble, he will not fall,

for the Lord upholds him with His hand.

Turn from evil and do good;

then you will dwell in the land forever.

For the Lord loves the just

and will not forsake his faithful ones.

The salvation of the righteous comes from the Lord;

He is their stronghold in time of trouble.

Psalm 37:3-7a, 23, 27-29, 39