A Great Dad Moment

As a dad, have you ever had one of those moments? A great parenting moment you wish you could freeze in the canister of time? A moment of parenting you keep replaying in your mind, as if you had it recorded on a DVD?

Most great dad-moments are created when your manhood and fatherhood finds an equilibrium. As men, it is easy to fall into the John Wayne mentality of putting up our guard in defense of our Manhood. But who are we actually fighting? Who is invading our Man-territory? Could the invaders we are battling be our own children?!

Let me share a personal story in hopes of being relative to this post: I believe it was one of those "dad moments".

A late-night lighting storm can place great fears in the hearts of small children. I remember my three year-old son being horrified at the sounds and flashes one late night. He did not want to lay down with me in my bed. Instead, he wanted me to stand and hold him. As a father, this was a great opportunity to display my protective, man-of-the-house abilities. Yet after awhile, I got tired of walking him around and decided to sit down. He was wide awake and showed no signs of drifting off to sleep.

Then it happened...
That great dad moment I will never forget. While still holding him on my chest, he reached up and put his arm around my neck and cupped the back of my neck with his little hand. In that moment, it felt as if he was actually holding me. I froze. My manhood immediately yelled in my mind, 'It's not manly for a person to hold your neck like that.' Yet, as I was reaching to remove my son's hand, my fatherhood butted in proclaiming, 'Let the child be! He is bonding with you! And besides, no one is looking!' So, I relaxed, allowing my son to hold my neck.

Then...BAM! One of the greatest feelings I have ever experienced rushed over me. It was a great dad moment where my manhood and fatherhood showed up at the same place. A moment where love was so thick you could have tasted it. What did it feel like? Tears of joy.

I then realized: Fatherhood wasn't just about what I could do for my children but this night revealed what I could also receive from my children. I learned that night that the love of a child is so much deeper than I could have ever realized. That night, in his greatest fear, he comforted me.

For the rest of that night, I sat still allowing him to hold me as I was holding him. It was a feeling I will never forget and he will probably never remember. It was a great Dad Moment.  



Do you have a great Dad Moment to share? Post it below in the comments or email thedaddydisciple@gmail.com