Father’s Day can be tough when we are missing fathers, grandfathers, special people in our lives. I lost my father three years ago.  At times it still feels like a punch to the gut, but this year the punch carried a little more weight!  Even in the sadness, my Heavenly Father is constantly reminding me of His love and His faithfulness.

My dad was a tinkerer, a builder, and a fixer of anything, of everything.  By trade, he was a mechanical engineer, and in his spare time, he loved hanging out in “Dad’s garage” to do all the tool and tractor things.  As the father of four girls (and one lonesome boy), it didn’t take him long to figure out that he could build and spend A LOT of time in a detached garage all his own. There was not a tool, a device, an instrument, a gizmo that he did not own and keep in that garage.  Therefore, when pairing his knowledge with his gadgets and collected equipment, he could create any contraption and solve any problem….in that garage. His garage. As time went on, he retired and had more time on his hands, so he added a few more structures (i.e., pole barns) to store and play with more of his dad-things.

So, these past few years, those buildings have remained full of wrenches and drills, tractors and carts, and lots of memories…until this weekend.  This weekend, Father’s Day weekend, these “things” that characterized my dad in so many ways, were auctioned off and taken away.  While this was a good thing because it was time, I will admit it hurt my heart a little as it seemed that parts of my dad were separated, divided up, and sold to strangers. 

As I sit here surveying some of the leftover items, I am gently reminded that all these things expressed a part of my dad’s life and love of a hobby, but these things did not define him. None of us are defined by our belongings, our achievements, our earthly pleasures.  God so graciously blessed my dad with a brilliant mind that he could not only use to make a living, but also use to enjoy during his leisure time.  And, even though we have tangible evidence of his talents, we also have memories of him being a tobacco-chewing, western movie-watching, very loved husband, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather.  But in the end, he was a child of God. 

That’s what matters.

“See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” 1 John 3:1 (NIV)

 So, on this Father’s Day, my Father God reminds me that ALL THE THINGS here on earth can be collected and enjoyed, but we cannot count on them lasting forever. We can, however, count on only one thing today, tomorrow, and evermore.  God’s love and promise of life eternal. That is something that cannot be auctioned off and carted away.  When we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior, we become children of God. Our faith and our hope is not found in our material goods or our abilities, but in Him alone. That is what defines us and what saves us. Forevermore.

“Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.”  John 1:12 (NIV)