The Very Best Gifts from My Dad

The very best gifts are those unexpected twinkles of joy that make a magical moment. They are magic moments when life seems greater than you ever realized. —Richard M Eyre

Today’s my dad’s birthday. (Interestingly, it’s also Keith Richards’ birthday.)

You and I inherited a lot from our fathers.

Most of what I got from mine was positive.

He died almost 50 years ago.

The older I get, the more I clutch at those unexpected twinkles of joy that make a magical moment. 

T-shirts worn by the staff at a restaurant Patty and I like have this on the back: “We didn’t know we were making memories. We just thought we were having fun.” Gotta love that!

Seen in the rearview mirror, those magic moments when life seems greater than you ever realized are treasures of ever-increasing value.

When we fold all of that into what Christ Jesus says in The Message version of the Bible, that he came to give us real and eternal life, more and better life that we ever imagined (John 10:10b), we realize we’re immeasurably blessed.

And suddenly I can see my dad turning to me again, smiling, and winding up to start telling a story.