joyancejames

Tag: fatherhood

  • Holding the Father’s Hands

    Currently, I’m enjoying the phase of my fatherhood where my daughter, Faith, forces me to always hold her hands when we’re outside home (Not sure if boy-dads/moms are as fortunate). I pray that God may spare me the parental phase when the child out grows the desire to hold hands, to be unhindered and free! When Faith holds my hands, she has a sense of security and I’ve a peace of mind that she is with me.
    When walking down the road, from my vantage point (~ 6 feet off the ground) I can see farther, envision any obstacles or difficulties along the way. While I deliberately reduce my stride to accomodate her distractions with the waywide flowers and child-like wonder, I know when to hold her back because a particularly appealing flower, unbeknown  to her grows on a thorn-bush. The childish ambition cries to run ahead in order to finish the walk but fatherly wisdom knows the long walk can’t afford energy expenditure on a sprint!

    Daddy-daughter walks

    The song writer Asaph recalles that even in the midst of his waywardness, he was still held by the hands that created him.
    Psalms 73:23-24 NLT
    [23] Yet I still belong to you; you hold my right hand. [24] You guide me with your counsel, leading me to a glorious destiny.

    https://bible.com/bible/116/psa.73.23-24.NLT

    To continually be held by Him is to acknowledge that “His way” is better.
    When all our peers say, “I want it that way” (courtesy Backstreet Boys); can we like another modern day Asaph (Forrest Frank) say,
    “Oh Lord, I need You now more than ever
    Would You put my heart back together
    I searched the world ’til my head hurt
    Just to find out Your way’s better”

    I want it “His way”!

    Isaiah 41:10, 13 NLT
    [10] Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.
    [13] For I hold you by your right hand— I, the Lord your God. And I say to you, ‘Don’t be afraid. I am here to help you.
    When we walk side-by-side, it is usually my left hand and my daughter’s right hand or vice-versa.
    But here, a beautiful picture emerges, being held by the right hand of Yahweh, signifies His strength, righteousness and victory. In the subsequent verse Isaiah writes that He holds our right hand, implying when our strength is almost spent and we are at the end of our rope, He comes face to face and invites us to rely on His strength and might.

    May we never outgrow the desire to hold and be held by His hands!
    God bless!

  • Step & Stride

    Lessons (orthopedic) from the walk

    Step length while walking is the distance between the point of contact of one foot and the point of contact of the opposite foot.
    Stride length is the distance between the successive points of initial contact of same foot.
    Stride involves two steps, hence it’s twice the length of single step.
    Cadence is the number of steps per minute.

    *Aggarwal, Abhinandan & Gupta, Rohit & Agarwal, Ravinder. (2018). Design and Development of Integrated Insole System for Gait Analysis. 1-5. 10.1109/IC3.2018.8530543

    When I walk with my daughter, she has to take couple of steps in order to match my stride length. At a little above 6’1″, my normal stride length will be somewhere between 1.5 – 1.9 meters, depending on my speed, etc, while for my daughter who stands just above my hip, the stride length will be approximately a 1/3rd of that.
    So for every step I take, she’ll take two or more, that increases her cadence (number of steps per minute).

    In our walk with Abba, so many times we take few steps forward but still feel He is not moving. That’s the difference between the human and the divine step/stride.
    Isaiah 55:8-9 NLT
    [8] “My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.
    [9] For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.
    https://bible.com/bible/116/isa.55.8-9.NLT

    The times when we feel, He’s not moving or working, we must remember that He’s always working, always moving just the divine cadence is different.

    The other aspect to it is that more often than not, I subconsciously take smaller steps while walking with my daughter in order to match her pace. When I reduce my step and stride length, she can walk comfortably & unhurriedly. In our life’s path, when we feel the pace of things is too slow, it would be wise to call to remembrance that Abba has to slow down intentionally so that we can walk comfortably & unhurriedly.

    a daddy-daughter walk

    Matthew 11:28-30 MSG
    [28-30] “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”

    https://bible.com/bible/97/mat.11.28-30.MSG

    Happy walking! God bless!

  • What I Cannot Hold

    What I Cannot Hold

    What my hands cannot hold, I give into the hands of the One who holds me.

    What I cannot hold – my regrets from yesterday
    What I cannot hold – my worries about tomorrow
    What I cannot hold – how today unfolds
    What I cannot hold – what I wasn’t meant to handle
    What I cannot hold – what others think of me
    What I cannot hold – what they will say of me
    What I cannot hold – the crushing weight of the responsibilities, dreams and aspirations.

    Just as the toys are age group specific, what if the things we strive and struggle with the most are age/season specific too.

    What is too big for my palmar grasp may be perfect for the Father’s grasp.

    He holds it all together!

    Psalms 36:5-6 MSG
    [5-6] God’s love is meteoric,
    His loyalty astronomic,
    His purpose titanic,
    His verdicts oceanic.
    Yet in his largeness nothing gets lost;
    Not a man, not a mouse, slips through the cracks.

    https://bible.com/bible/97/psa.36.5-6.MSG

    He’s got the whole world in His hands and yet He still holds your hands.


    Isaiah 41:13 NLT
    [13] For I hold you by your right hand— I, the Lord your God. And I say to you, ‘Don’t be afraid. I am here to help you.
    https://bible.com/bible/116/isa.41.13.NLT

    God bless 😊.

  • Legacy > Inheritance

    The words “inheritance” and “legacy” are synonymous and are used interchangeably yet they are poles apart in terms of their impact.

    Good inheritance equates to a comfortable life for the next generation.
    Legacy relates to the impact the next generation will have on the world around them.
    Inheritance is usually material.
    Legacy transcends the tangible.

    Inheritance impacts the family and children.
    Legacy outlasts familial boundaries.
    Inheritance is proportional to the vocation and hard work.
    Legacy is impacted by the life lived not just the work done.
    Time spent away from the family contributes to the inheritance.
    Precious time with the family and children shapes the legacy.

    The race to work the fingers to the bone and hustle culture will probably translate to an eventual huge inheritance (economically) .
    Memories and moments around the dinner-table, bed-time stories and family time and activities influence the legacy left.

    The castle constructed and bequeathed is the inheritance but if it’s not equally matched with an impactful life and legacy then the castle is just another decoration on the landscape.
    May our children be always assured that their applause matters more to us than the accolades that adorn our walls.
    May our legacy outlasts generations.

    ‭Matthew 6:19-21 NLT‬
    [19]  “Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. [20] Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. [21] Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.

    God bless you!

  • It’s mine (Is it really mine?)

    “It’s mine” says my little daughter Faith while snatching a toy or hair clip from my hand and sometimes I gently remind her that since she is mine, so whatever she owns is actually mine. As a child she feels entitled to her toys and hair clip and throws a tantrum when she can’t have her way, are we any different than my toddler? We feel entitled to all the blessings, crave things to happen our way, on our time schedules, forgetting that God is sovereign and we are not.

    The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it. The world and all its people belong to him.
    Psalms 24:1 NLT
    https://bible.com/bible/116/psa.24.1.NLT

    Let us remind ourselves that things better in the almighty hands that never falter nor fail than our butter fingered hands. A heart that trusts is better than a mind that comprehends. Even the wisest King of Israel, Solomon advised us not to lean on our own understanding but to trust the Lord with all our heart.

    Oh, how great are God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his ways! For who can know the Lord’s thoughts? Who knows enough to give him advice?
    Romans 11:33‭-‬34 NLT
    https://bible.com/bible/116/rom.11.33-34.NLT

    We end up wasting a lot of our time and energies and mental peace because we do not realise and acknowledge the sovereignty of God in our lives. Let us remind ourselves that the sheep never search, “pastures near me” on the maps trying to make it’s life easier but trusts the shepherd to lead it to the right pasture.

    The Lord directs our steps, so why try to understand everything along the way?
    Proverbs 20:24 NLT
    https://bible.com/bible/116/pro.20.24.NLT

    God bless!

  • Lessons from fatherhood – IV

    Clinging onto the Father

    My baby girl, Faith is almost 10 months, she’s always loved being carried around on her daddy’s arms. She would always hold on to our clothes whenever we pick her up but recently she started grasping, a tight-grasp as if hanging for life. If she fears someone is going to take her away from us (stranger-anxiety) or we are gonna put her down when she wants to be carried around, she will clinch on to my clothes so tightly that we’ve to break her grip first to put her down.
    A baby may think that it’s her cinch, her hold on her dad that’s preventing a fall but in actually it’s the dad’s hold on her that sustains the embrace.
    “Absolutely nothing can get between us and God’s love because of the way that Jesus our master has embraced us.” Romans 8:39 (The Message)
    It’s not our strength or doing but His embrace that allows us to weather storms and uncharted waters.

    We’ve had a stormy weather past couple of days, with some heavy rains and thundering. Whenever there is a loud frightening thunder, Faith will hold on even so tightly and pull herself closer as if to sink in my embrace.
    This is something that Covid 19 did for the world; a study done in University of Copenhagen said that level of prayer searches (Google) in March 2020 was more than 50 per cent higher than the average during February 2020. The top English-language Bible on Google Play and App Store was installed almost two million times, the highest amount ever recorded for March, according to Appfigures.

    May the trials and storms of our lives push us closer to the heart of our Father, deeper into His embrace rather than pull us away. May our trials function to underscore our need for a savior, our Father. May they function to highlight the preposterousness of the delusions of our self sufficiency.

    God bless!