One of the greatest gifts God has given me is
to make me a Woodward. But even more so for me, God created me to look
just like my grandmother. I hear it all the time--even strangers have
come up to me and known who my grandmother is.
As I've grown up, my grandfather have always
let me know that he thinks I'm so beautiful. It kind of crescendoed to
the point where whenever I'd see him, he'd just gaze at me and go on and on
about how radiant I was looking. It was deeply encouraging, but also
somewhat strange because he was so over the top about it. But I finally
made the connection the last time he was in the hospital about a month and a
half ago, so I asked him, "Granddaddy, do you think I'm so beautiful
because I look just like your wife?" Then he smiled one of his
signature smiles and nodded. I’m not sure I’ve ever felt more cherished
than I did at that moment.
Seeing how Granddaddy cherished his wife has
impacted me profoundly. I'm not an expert on family, but from what I can
tell the most important thing a father can do to create a healthy family is to
love his wife well. And the standard he's set in our family for doing
that, all the rest of the men have followed with their wives. What a
massive blessing to be raised in that environment that he pioneered.
No comments:
Post a Comment