A few nights ago, my wife and I were just relaxing after we had put all of the kids to bed. After about an hour, our two year-old woke up crying. I brought him downstairs and laid with him on the couch. He immediately went back to sleep, and I marveled at how he did not care about whatever dream had scared him anymore, because he was with me. I remembered times when I was a kid, and I would be comforted by the knowledge that my Daddy was there. I laid there watching him sleep and I noticed that the position that he was laying in and the expression on his face were the same as they were when I took him to get his first bath in the hospital on the day he was born. I watched his little belly rise and fall with his breath just like on that day. He's bigger now, and wearing pj's with fire trucks on them, because let's face it, firetrucks are cool. We hold this truth to be self-evident. I woke up about an hour later, and took him back to his bed and I went to mine. Since then my mind has sorted through thoughts that all Daddies must remember to think on often. The hand that my children are dealt to work with in this world will be determined by me. They will be known by my reputation. As they grow and make names for themselves, they will make those names in the way that I will have trained them to do. The way that I work, the way that I love their mother, the way I talk, the time that I spend with them, and innumerable other actions of mine will be theirs to either follow or to reject. The name that they inherit from me will be for them to either live up to or to live down.
These thoughts leave me, and I imagine you too, humbled, afraid, and desperate for the guidance of the Everlasting Father. We cannot walk in the counsel of the wicked, stand in the way of sinners, or sit in the seat of scoffers. Instead, we have to delight in the law of the Lord, and meditate on it day and night.
Lord, forgive our sin, and remember us according to Your steadfast love and Your mercy. Strengthen us and lead us in Your truth, for You are the God of our salvation, for You we wait all the day long.