This was graduation weekend for one of our local high schools.  During the various parties and ceremonies, I saw many pictures of the graduates from all different stages of their lives.  But, there was one picture that stopped me in my tracks, warmed my soul and made me take a hard look at myself, all at the same time.  It was a picture of one of the graduates when she was probably about three or four years old.  She stood in a vinyl swimming pool with one of those smiles of pure delight that we love to see from our kids.  The reason for her smile wasn't the water, though.  Next to her, laying on his belly in the water with a grin of his own, was her father, being a Daddy. It is an honor of the highest order to be a Daddy, and with our eyes on the Lord, we humbly accept.  No, we don't deserve it, but the Lord loves us and taps us out for the job anyway.  There is nothing else like it.  There is nothing else so heartbreaking, so much fun, so satisfying, so difficult, and so awesome.  And, that picture was a portrait of a man who said "I accept."  And, in his case, he suited up and jumped in.

Now, let me make the disclaimer that motherhood is every bit of everything mentioned above, and likely more so, given the added responsibilities and emotional depth of carrying, delivering and nursing.  In the culture that we live in, fatherhood is a job where just showing up already puts us in the top half.  That is a sad commentary, but it should drive us to be more than that for the sake of our kids.  Like my friend in the picture with his baby girl, we have to be all in with our kids.  And, like him, we will still be standing when they've grown and begin to venture out into the way they should go.  We'll have some miles on us.  We will have lost sight of some things that used to be so important to us before our children came along.  And, that's exactly how it should be.