I am late in posting last Sunday’s Weekly Question. I normally post my entry on Sunday nights but I was sidetracked because I redesigned this blog. Anyway, here’s the weekly question for last Sunday…

What valuable lessons have you learned from your father?

Before I answer the question, let me tell you something about my dad first. My dad is the firstborn child in a family of 10. But he has an older brother, his mom’s child before she got married to his dad. He is more closer to his older brother than with anybody else. His family is not very vocal and showy when it comes to their affections. He and his siblings grew up not voicing out their emotions but rather showing it through gruff manners. If they show their concern, they will effect a tough manner, angry-like, and will scold you. But they are concerned. My siblings and I learned how to distinguish concern versus real anger from my dad. Due to this awkward way of showing his concern and love for us, we were never really close to him when we were kids.

When my brother died of leukemia, things started to change in our household. We’ve grown closer, albeit just a little. But when my mom died two years ago, that brought us closer to our dad.

What I would like to point out here is that, the lessons I learned from him are not directly pointed out to me but these are things I learned because I see him do it.

>>Learn how to be friends with everybody, no matter what their station in life is.
You can say that my dad is friends with almost everyone in our neighborhood. I know that he has really rich friends and yet you can see him talking to those old beggars inside the church. I learned how to converse with just about anyone because of him.

>>Work hard.
My dad is a stickler for attendance. Even if he has a fever, as long as he could go to the office without passing out on the way there, he’d surely be in the office. That’s how he was when he was still working for this insurance company. I may not be the same when it comes to his standards in working hard but I do work hard. My determination is something that I have seen mirrored in him.

>>Pray. Keep the faith.
This is the most important lesson I learned from him. So many things happened to our family already. If we didn’t see how my dad remained faithful to Him, well, we would have probably lost our faith. He is a very prayerful man. He may not look like one but he is. And that is something that I thank him for because he led by example. We all became closer to the Lord because of him.

There are more lessons I learned from my dad but I thought I’d just write down three
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