Musings on Mother’s Day

Dear Lord; Happy Mother’s Day Father!

This evening Lord, I wanted to pay tribute if I may, to two wonderful mothers in my life; my mother who passed to Your Kingdom in 1995, and my lovely wife Shannon.

I was very Blessed Father, to have an excellent mother-figure in my life growing up.  She was an intelligent, funny, caring woman and worked diligently to instill a sense of honor, understanding and perspective in my brother and I.  Although she battled multiple forms of cancer for over 15 years, her focus was always on caring for and nurturing us.  She was an amazing lady, and although I miss her a great deal I know I’ll see her again someday.  🙂

And Father, You Blessed me yet again with the wonderful lady You sent to be my wife.  She has truly been the epitome of the “ideal mother” to our boys, and I couldn’t be more thankful for her.  Today, we had a lovely Mother’s Day afternoon together.  It started with a late lunch at the local Celtic Pub, then we rode out to Woodland Beach for a walk along the shore to gather sea glass for Shannon’s craft projects.  I of course, carted along my camera and here are some of my favorites from the day:

Aidan spent the bulk of his time wading through the shallow water, finding rocks for his “collection”, and playing in the sand.

Jonathan started out with the idea of shooting photos as well, but the lure of playing in the sand and wading in the cool water quickly had me carrying his camera instead.

It was truly a lovely day out; around 75 degrees and sunny with a light breeze to keep the bugs away.

Shannon spent much of her time scouring the beach for bits of “sea glass” for her crafting projects.

We got the boys involved in the glass search as well, and they had a great time searching out these bits of treasure.

All in all Father, it was a lovely afternoon.  As always, I thank You for the Blessings You bestow on us each day, and for the remarkable examples of motherhood You’ve placed in my life.  Amen.

~Phather Phil

Thankful Thursday: The Gift of Prayer

Dear Lord; Happy Thankful Thursday Father!

Once again Lord, we come upon another Thankful Thursday here at PhatherPhil.org.  Unlike other weeks where I’ve struggled to narrow down just what I’m most thankful for, this week was almost prescribed for me by, oddly enough, the United States Congress.  Yes, in 1952 the U.S. Congress officially designated that the first Thursday of May each year would be a National Day of Prayer, and it just seems wonderfully fitting to me that it falls on a Thankful Thursday.

I am truly thankful for the Gift of Prayer Father!

I wholeheartedly believe that prayer is absolutely a Gift You’ve given us Lord, and in my opinion one of Your most magnanimous and precious gifts of all.  Through prayer, You Grace us with the inherent ability to commune with You.  Little, flawed, lowly beings such as we, can “dial up” the Creator of Everything and have a one-on-one conversation… How miraculous is that??  Through prayer you give us the path to obtaining the most precious thing we can in this life; a personal relationship with You.

It’s a humbling, and yet amazingly powerful gift Lord, and I thank You for that “Bat Phone” connection to You with all my heart.  🙂

Amen.

~Phather Phil

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions

Dear Lord; Good evening Father!

Decisions; life is full of them.  Every single day we’re called upon to make choices that impact our lives, and in many cases the lives of those around us.  Some are small, simple ones such as what to have for lunch (although that never seems to be simple in my office for some reason…), and others, well, are not so simple.  Either way, our lives are shaped by the decisions we make, and the paths we follow.

Case in point:

My wife Shannon is in the throes of a fairly significant decision; one that could have both short and long-term consequences, but also the potential for significant life-changing benefits.  Like all choices of this kind, there are a number of back-and-forth arguments on both sides of the equation, making the correct path less than obvious.  Sitting down with her and talking about it this evening, we hashed it out from nearly every side we could come up with, and in the end were left with a couple piles of “what if” scenarios.  Finally, I asked her a simple question;

Have you prayed about it?

She indicated she had, and that during that discussion with You Father, You told her to follow her heart.  While I believe she would have preferred a “Do this and everything will work out.” answer, You instead left her to determine what her heart truly is leading her to do, and the knowledge that You’re behind her when she does.

“If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.” – James 1:5-6 (NIV)

I think that a great many of Your answers to our prayers are like this Lord.  We’ve become a “quick fix” society and want instant solutions to our problems, but You instead use these crossroads in our lives to help us to grow and to learn.  Just because You don’t give us concrete answers to our pleas doesn’t mean You don’t have the solutions, simply that we need to pay closer attention to Your Truths and use those resources to do what we know to be right.

Heavenly Father, please guide and enlighten us to make the decisions that best serve Your Plan for us.  Please help filter out the “noise” around us which can lead us astray, and allow us to focus on Your Voice so as to choose the best path forward.  Amen.

~Phather Phil

Must Not Break His Word

Dear Lord; Good evening Father!

Following yesterday’s discussion Father, I thought I’d continue with further insight I’ve derived from the Book of Numbers.  While many verses lead me to contemplate, ponder and draw lessons from them, there are others that are less… subtle.  Such is the beginning passage from Numbers 30:

“Moses said to the heads of the tribes of Israel: “This is what the Lord commands: When a man makes a vow to the Lord or takes an oath to obligate himself by a pledge, he must not break his word but must do everything he said.”” – Numbers 30:1-2 (NIV)

Now Lord, this may seem to be an obvious directive to follow in everyday life, but I see this command skirted nearly every day in some way.  As a society, I think it’s become apparent that although we all know trust, honor and honesty are qualities that should be valued and maintained, in far too many cases we all fall short to a great degree.

The news media is filled with stories of lies, dishonesty and unethical behavior almost daily.

The “Art of the Deal” is held by many to be more important than integrity.

Cheating on your spouse is very often portrayed as “dangerous and sexy” by TV and movies.

Popular media focuses on finding “gray areas” of behavior, rather than condemning improper choices.

Instead of being able to rely on someone’s word, we fill the coffers of lawyers and are forced to “cover ourselves”.

Heavenly Father, please help focus me to make correct and proper choices each day in accordance with Your Word.  Guide me to be an ethical and moral person, and to bring that perspective to my children as well.

“Have the courage to say no. Have the courage to face the truth. Do the right thing because it is right. These are the magic keys to living your life with integrity.” – W. Clement Stone

Amen.

~Phather Phil

Thankful Thursday: A Sense of Clean

Dear Lord; Happy Thankful Thursday Father!

Well Lord, once again we’ve come to that day of the week where I attempt to focus my thanks to You on one particular thing.  When I first started following this “theme day”, I thought it would be the easiest conversation of the week, simply because I’m Blessed in so many ways that I’d have an infinite list of things to be thankful for.  Funny enough, that ended up being the reason that Thursdays can be so difficult for me; too many Blessings to pick just one! 🙂

In today’s case, when I started to contemplate all the things I’ve been thankful for this week a seemingly bizarre one popped into my head.  I shook it off and tried to think of other, more important things but it kept coming back to the front of my mind.  I’m really not sure what prompted this one Father, but I’ll throw it out as long as you promise not to laugh:

Today Father, I’m thankful for Chlorine Bleach.

Ok, ok… Even I chuckle when I say this one.  Laughs are ok.

I use bleach on pretty much a daily basis Lord.  I guess it’s not as much the chemical itself, but the known bacterial and viral destruction it leaves in it’s wake.  From caring for a number of relatives who were seriously ill, very old pets with “control issues”, raising little boys with all the associated grubbiness (as my wife Shannon reminds me regularly, boys are gross… lol) and all the time we spent with Jonathan’s immune system being nonexistent I’ve come to rely on bleach as my “germ killing” solution to a great many problems.

I use it on our bathroom fixtures…

I use it in the kitchen sink…

I put some in the rinse water for our carpet cleaner…

I use it in the laundry rinse cycle…

I power-wash the house with a solution of it…

And the list goes on and on…

While there are absolutely many more important things I could praise You for Lord, this is what was in my heart.  No clue why, it just was.  Therefore Father, I thank You for the cleanliness that You bring to my life through this flexible and powerful chemical.  It helps to keep my home cleaner and my family less subject to infectious organisms and in my book, that makes it a significant Blessing.

Thank You for that sense of clean Father.

Amen.

~Phather Phil