Heavy but Happy Day!

Good morning!

Hope you all are doing well and enjoying this day we have been given! This is Mason, Todd’s middle son and my first chance to introduce myself here on this wonderful blog! Today is a heavy day for me and my family. Today is November 8th, my dad’s birthday. He would’ve been 61 today. It is his first birthday without him here, and there is no easy way around it. It is a hard day.

My dad was funny about his birthday. He never really liked his very much, but loved celebrating us on ours. Which may not be too much of a surprise to those of you that knew him well. He was all about others and never really liked the attention to be on him.

As his birthday was approaching this week, I thought through some ways I could make this day a little less heavy and maybe somewhat special. I started with all the things my dad loved. I woke up way too early to go on a walk, I listened to some U2 and Elevation Worship music, I went to Starbucks to get a vanilla latte, and I journaled all before 6:30 a.m. The only thing I haven’t done that he would’ve done at this point is get a workout in, that’s coming later.

Doing all of these things got me thinking that there is one thing that I’m missing when it comes to all of his favorite things. One that maybe out weighs all the others, especially as he navigated his diagnosis, and that was letting anyone and everyone know that “You are loved and of great value!”

He would want you to know that today. That you are loved, not only by your friends and family, but more importantly, by our Heavenly Father. A Heavenly Father that created you in His image and because of that you are of great, great value.

I hope you believe that today. That it rings true in your life today. That you get a glimpse of our Heavenly Fathers love for you. I hope you get the opportunity to go out and share that love with others. That would be the best birthday gift you could give my dad today, the best gift you could give our family.

So go out, love well, and know that you are loved and of great value!

Happy Birthday Dad!