I hope everyone enjoyed their Father's Day, and spent time with all those important guys out there. I had the opportunity to give a talk in church last Sunday on Father's day, and speak about my dad and share a couple stories. I've had a request to share my written talk, so here it is:
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Fathers have been given a very special task in protecting and
providing for their families. They are
strong, brave, wise, kind and gentle, but most of all they are in charge of
teaching their children some of life’s most important lessons.
With 5 daughters, including me, and no sons, you just might think my dad would feel like he
had nothing to teach us, but that is completely untrue. My dad taught me how to shoot guns, ride
four wheelers, use power tools, gut a fish, build a fire and pitch a tent,
change the tire on my car, and the list goes on and on. But he has also taught me how to be a hard
worker and be responsible, to be honest and fair, to be smart and wise, to be
serious but funny, to be gentle and kind, to be a friend and not judge, and to
love another and let others love you.
I saw a quote the other day that said “A dad is someone who
wants to catch you before you fall but instead picks you up, brushes you off
and lets you try again” I know like
many dads, my dad wants to constantly stop me from making my mistakes, he may
council me to choose another path but he leaves me to make my own mistakes
anyways. And then, when I make the
mistake, he is there to comfort me, and tell me to try again, and again, and
again.
When I turned 15 and had just gotten my learners permit, my
dad’s rule was I had to learn to drive his 3/4 ton truck before I was allowed
to drive the family car. His truck was a
manual transmission, and it was not an easy truck to drive. My dad drove me to the town’s cemetery,
which was laid upon several steep hills.
He found the steepest hill there, and parked the truck near the bottom
of the hill, where we were parked on a slope.
He set the E-brake, turned off the truck and told me to get in the
driver’s seat. He went over the list of
things I needed to do in order to get to the top of the hill. He told me start-her-up, put the truck into 2nd
gear and drive up the hill. I remember
thinking that driving up this hill was going to be cake. After all it was just a hill, and he had
already done some of the work for me by driving it part way up. I had
watched my dad drive that truck too many times to even count and he never
struggled with a hill. So with my
confidence high, I then continued …. to kill the truck several times. The day ended with lots tears on my part, and
lots frustration on my dad’s, and I still did not know how to drive his truck. I
remember coming home and crying to my mom that I couldn't do it and I that was
never going to drive because driving my dad’s truck seemed so impossible. My dad thought differently, He knew that with practice I would eventually learn
to drive this truck and it would soon become second nature. My dad continued to take me to the same hill,
trade me places, give me the same list of instructions and then tell me to
drive up the hill in 2nd gear.
I slowly started to get better and better every time, and the day I had
finally made up the hill without killing it, he made me do it again but this
time in 1st gear. So I did, and discovered that this was much
easier. I started thinking ‘Why couldn't I do this in the first place? Why did he make me go through the struggle at
first? Was he just trying to torture me? Did he like to see me cry?’ My dad
must have noticed the frustrated and slightly annoyed expression on my face,
because he looked at me and said something like “Now aren't you glad I made you
do the hard one first” I was NOT glad.
But my dad knew that if I could do it the hard way, then everything else
would be easy.
Driving his truck was not the only time my dad seemed to
torture me by making me do hard things.
As I would practice my piano pieces, he would start playing “O when the
Saints, go marching in” at the bottom of the keyboard. At first it really bothered me, and made mess
up and made me lose my concentration. I
eventually would give up and walk away.
He kept pestering me while I played, and eventually, I learned to play
through my piece without his playing distracting me. It made me a better pianist. He still does it, to this day.
Throughout my life, my dad has made me see that I should
practice, practice, practice, and try, try, again if I want to succeed. My dad
has been a true example of this. Growing
up, my dad was not an active member of the church. He always taught me to love God and to be
thankful to him for the good things in my life.
A couple years ago, my dad was ordained to the Melchizedek Priesthood. Shortly thereafter my parents were sealed in
the temple for time and all eternity in the Manti Temple. I was able to be sealed to my parents. That day my dad taught me that we are all
given second chances, and I had never been so proud of him.
Our fathers are wise men and want to help their children to
be happy and to be successful in life, as does our Heavenly Father. Just like my dad made me do the hard things
first, God gives us commandments that may seem hard, especially to those who
choose the easier way. He does not give
us these commandments to be mean, or see us cry or torture us, but because he
loves us and wants us to learn and grow, and be stronger. If we keep his commandments and choose the
right, and we do the hard things first, then everything else in life will seem
easy. Our Heavenly Father is the father of us
all. He wants us all to succeed, he
knows we are going to make mistakes and he knows that sometimes we will make
bad choices. He will counsel us to
choose better paths, but leaves us to make our own mistakes. And then when have made our mistakes and
have hit the ground, he is always there to pick us up, dust us off and helps
try again.
I know our Heavenly Father loves us. He has given us fathers, who have the power of the priesthood, and who able to teach us and lead us the way back to our home in heaven. He has given us temples, a way for us to be with our families forever. He gave us commandments and asks us to be obedient so that when temptations cross our paths we will not be easily swayed. He gave us Christ, and the Atonement, so we are able to be forgiven of our sins and that we may try again. This father’s day not only am I thankful for the amazing men in my life, but I am especially thankful to Heavenly Father for the life he has provided for us all.
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