Songs from my Father

I actually love writing.

Unlike the painter/artist who finds their delight with a canvas or piece of paper and crayons, paint brushes or whatever, I get my thrills from expressing my thoughts on paper in the written word. When I think about it on a roll there are so many thoughts actually worth writing that I could happily spend half my time in waking hours just doing that. Of course there’s more to life than writing, so I’ll have to discipline myself in this fashion. Perhaps the real gig is to discipline myself to write regularly in a format that can be published.

Anyhow. Today’s blog entry (or tonight for this is being typed after 11pm) is another tribute for my father. What do I mean another? Read this and get back to me. After you’ve checked that then you can go on to check a tribute to me sister who turns 31 today.

My family is one that’s heavily influenced by music. All five members of the immediate family enjoy nothing better than a good sing-song now and then. David is undoubtedly the most gifted singer of us all. Mum is undoubtedly the most passionate singer of us all. Ruth is undoubtedly the most disciplined singer of us all. I am undoubtedly the most likely person to write about us singing. That leaves our father.

There’s something whimsical about remembering my dad singing and just humming a tune as he goes about daily routine activities. Not interested in the telly, he’d go to his room and hum a tune, or more accurately relate the tune to the timeless lyrics of ‘dee dah dah, dee, dah, dah, dah, dum, dah, dah, dah, dah, dee, dah’ which of course are applicable to any song in one combination or another. Tonight whilst taking the time to look after the children then treat myself to an awesome dinner I recalled a song my dad used to hum/dah, Praise to the Lord, the Almighty. I went to the effort of researching the song and on actually reading the lyrics (not my dad’s dum-dah-dee version) I was blown away by just how awesome the song is.

All these years my dad had sown the praise of God into the psyche of his son so that years after leaving the home I still remember clearly the song and can go back and find out why the Lord is worthy my praise – king of creation; my health and salvation; shelters me; sustains me; grants the real needs of my life; created me; enables me to work; loves me; helps me overcome life’s issues from without and within; stills the storms of life; persists even when things look to be going wrong.

Considering all of this I can see why my dad hummed this tune all those years ago. Having experienced the reality of these different aspects in my life along this 14 year journey with God so far I can now sing the song with real personal investment. So thank God for my dad, who celebrated his 74th birthday last Saturday. As a beneficiary of his legacy, I only hope I can live such a life that my children will likewise be able to look back in years to come and remember their father devoted this Lord worthy of praise because He is the Almighty, the King of Creation.

For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
da man cd