Sanctified and Surrendered: Happy Birthday, Dad!

Today is my daddy’s 60^th birthday. He was 36 years old when I came into this world. I have been with him on each of his birthdays since his 37^th… until now. Though I am almost 24 years old, I have always been and always will be my daddy’s little girl.

When I think about my amazing dad, these words come to mind:

-Safety

-Security

-Joy

-Strength

-Wisdom

-Honor

-Unconditional love

-Kindness

-Discipline

-Christlike

I could go on and on describing the wonderful attributes that I find in my dad but one of them is “humility” and in honor of that I will only list those ten.

Not a day goes by that I don’t thank the Lord for my dad. Most days (like at this moment) it brings tears to my eyes and a knot in my throat. Why should I, of all the people in the world, deserve to have Loren Stacy as MY daddy? I am so uniquely blessed, along with my two siblings, to be his child. He has always been my protector and provider, not because he had to be but because he chose to be. He took on the role of father with compassion and tenderness toward his children. Even when he disciplined us, it was with unmistakable love. He was firm and unflinching. At the time I hated his consistent discipline when I deserved it. But I never doubted his love.

No matter how stressful his day was, he’d come home in the evening with a smile and pretend to not know where Erin and I were hiding even though every day we hid in the same place underneath the kitchen table. He’d walk through the door and ask, “Where are my girls?” as we huddled under the table giggling and thinking we were so sneaky! He’d pick us up and waltz us around the living room to Pachelbel’s Canon in D or the Beach Boys. We were his girls. We were safe. And we still are. That is the best part of being his daughter. It doesn’t matter that we’re grown ups with grown up lives. We can still call our daddy and receive the same tender love that we always have. When we’re with him, we still ask for a hug and receive one full of the same comfort we’ve always received from him. If we ask him to waltz with us, I have no doubt he would. He still offers the same sense of humor that gives us the same belly laugh it always has. He is our daddy and that is a timeless role.

So many people go throughout life not knowing they are loved by their parents, let alone by their Creator. The more aware of this I become, the more I am thankful for my parents who daily give their love and show me Christ’s. My parents have passed on a legacy to my siblings and me. I pray we live it out as faithfully as they do for us.

Dad and I are miles apart and I miss him. I wish I could be back at the office today working with him like I did for so many years. Instead I sit here writing as I drink my morning cup of coffee in my Snoopy mug. I can’t help but smile at the fact that my love for writing, coffee, and Snoopy are all inherited from my dad. I take joy in the fact that regardless of how far apart we are, my daddy influences me every day in the littlest and biggest ways.

Thirty-six years old to sixty to one-hundred, he will always be my daddy and I will always be his little girl.

Happy birthday, dad! I love you!