Daddy or Father?

Sometimes something happens that just blesses my boots off!  We had everyone home for Thanksgiving this year - 16 total.  Our two sons with their families were able to stay for 3 days.  Unfortunately, our daughter had to leave late Thursday Night. 

All this is to get to my blessings.  I spotted the two adult sons, one almost 40, the other 51, sitting across each other at the dining room table deep in conversation.  Since they see each other rarely it was just a special blessing to see them communicate with such  love and interest.

Later, I saw the 40 yr. old sitting on the sofa, his 13 yr. old daughter snuggled up to him as he had his arm draped over her shoulder.  After awhile he left the sofa and I went to her and said something to this effect:  "Katie, you are so fortunate to have a Daddy you can snuggle up to.  Young ladies need the touch of their fathers in a loving, non-threatening way."

Why did this bring tears to my eyes?  My father was not a daddy - he was a father.  He never touched me in an inappropriate way - in fact, he never touched me.  Both he and I would have been shocked if I'd snuggled up to him on the sofa.  It just wasn't done.  I know he loved me in his own way, and I've analyzed why he was a  stand-offish father.  Still, I wonder sometimes what person I would have become had he been a daddy.

Today I was reading Ps. 91.  I never got past the first verse.  I picture myself snuggled up to God on a sofa in the shelter of his arms.  I rest there and put my head on his shoulder, safe in the shadow of His Presence. 

If anyone reads this blog and their father was a daddy - Thank God for him first, and then, if he's still alive, give him a big hug and tell him how thankful you are that he was your daddy.  If your daddy is deceased, thank your heavenly Father for giving this wonderful person to you as your daddy. 

The father we have as a child is the picture we begin with as to what our heavenly father is like.  When I first became a Christian I had a hard time picturing God as a loving, forgiving father, and not a stern, hands off father.