I gave a talk in one of the wards that I serve in today. I talked about two things. Hope and my dad. I wanted to share some of the thoughts that I shared about my dad here.
What I had written down for my talk and what I spoke were slightly different. I edited it to be more accurate to what I spoke.
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Good Morning Brothers and Sisters! Happy Father's Day! *Introduce myself and my family a bit. Talk briefly about what each sibling is up to and talk about the Dairy Farm because people seem to enjoy hearing about it. Share that both my parents are teachers and that I want to be a teacher as well (specifically math)*
I wanted to pay a little tribute to my father in my talk, even though he is not here listening.
I wanted to highlight two of the things that I really appreciate about my dad.
1. My dad is the best example of Christ-like service I know.
If he has 5 minutes in his schedule, he will gladly fit you in. [author's note: That is a quote from a givethanks post my mom did] He is always out ministering to individuals in need. I was just talking about this the other week to someone; if my dad wasn't home, he was either at work or serving someone. That's what he did. And serving others is part of who he is.
He is genuine and serves with no expectation of anything in return. He just wants to help.
A quick example, is he always picks up trash off the ground when he walks by. He is involved in and takes care of his community.
2. He always got invested into our interests growing up, and continues to do so. When I talk to him on Mondays, he often asks about the people I am teaching, and references things I talked about last week.
Before my mission, he would ask questions about the music artist I am listening to, or the games I am playing, or the books I am reading. Not for some ulterior motive of micromanaging me or sneakily trying to find me doing something I’m not supposed to. But instead because he genuinely cares about what I care about and wants to learn more about why I care about it so much.
He listens intently and allows me to talk freely about the things I'm passionate about.
My father is awesome.
[Author's note: this is where I branch off a little into talking about Father's in general. I really like the quote and such, though, so I thought I would include it in this blog post as well]
I love the quote by A. Theodore Tuttle in his talk entitled “The Role of Fathers” given in October 1973.
"It should have great meaning that of all the titles of respect and honor and admiration that could be given him, that God himself, he who is the highest of all, chose to be addressed simply as 'Father.'"
I know a good Father can make a big impact in a child’s life. I hope that we all have good Fathers. And if we don’t down here, I promise you we have a perfect father up there.
[Author's note: At this point in my talk, I then transition to talking about hope. I share a shortened and altered version of my "Hope is Sometimes Misunderstood" talk that I posted a while back]