Dads, Darkness, and Daily Deeds

The Joys of Girl Dadding

I love being a “girl dad.” Struggling with ponytails, playing horses, putting a “Hello Kitty” bandaid on my girl’s flawless upper arm while I try not to bleed on her from the actual wound I received while trying to zest a lemon while holding her. I wouldn’t change it for the world.

With the “Daddy Daughter Dance” coming up tomorrow night, I found myself thinking through all the wonders of being a dad. Sharing a hot chocolate, and putting whipped cream on her nose. Long evenings with blocks and books. Laughter, tears and silliness, all combine into a wash of memories that mean the world to me.

Small Acts, Big Impact

Being a parent is about little acts of love. Those little acts of love and light push the darkness away, not with a dramatic push, but with an incremental shift that endures.

In movies, there are often scenes where the main character is lost in darkness. Suddenly there is a flare of light and everything is different. While God can do this through revival, in my experience He often uses a dimmer switch…one of those dials that slowly turns the lights up. I’ve rarely seen God change a person or family with the throw of a switch. Often, I see Him work slowly and faithfully, pushing the darkness out one millimeter at a time.

In The Hobbit, Gandalf tells Bilbo, "I have found that it is the small everyday deeds of ordinary folks that keep the darkness at bay. Small acts of kindness and love."

That’s the call on the life of a girl dad. Honestly, that’s the call on all our lives. Do ordinary deeds of kindness and love; by doing so we will push back the darkness and slowly change the world.

A World in Need

We can’t change national politics, but we can perform small acts of kindness and love.

We can’t bring peace to the Middle East, but we can perform small acts of kindness and love.

All the things we stress about are often beyond our reach to impact, but we can perform small acts of kindness and love.

A pastor in New York saw the power of this firsthand. A few months ago the city had some of the worst flooding they had ever seen. One intersection in Hell’s Kitchen, 42nd and 9th Avenue, was badly flooded. Cars were at a crawl, pedestrians were getting drenched, and the traffic was a nightmare. The police were trying to direct the traffic, but 42nd and 9th were havoc.

Then he saw something remarkable.

A man took off his shoes, rolled up his jeans, and walked into the middle of the intersection, blocking the traffic. He had some sort of rake or broom in his hands. People started losing their minds. Cars were honking, police were yelling, and yet he gestured in such a way as to say, "Give me a minute here."

The water went way past the point at which he had rolled up his jeans, well above his knees. He began to maneuver the stick and work at something below the surface of the water. And then after what appeared to be 5 minutes, a kind of miracle happened. The water began to recede. Like a giant bath emptying slowly, the water began to seep away. As it turns out, trash from overflowing bins had clogged the drains in the intersection. While cars honked, people cursed, and police screamed, this man cleared the trash away in the middle of the storm.

Within minutes, traffic was flowing at a much-improved pace by then. The commute of thousands of people was changed by this anonymous, selfless man.

This pastor reflects on that scene every time he walks past that intersection. In the storm, meteorologists offered warnings and opinions. Climate activists pointed to the need for policy changes. For some, it was yet another reason for some to leave New York. But for one man, it was an opportunity to do something about the way things were.

It wasn’t heroic, and he didn’t go viral on TikTok. He just waded into the middle of the mess. But on one of the worst days in the city’s history, one man’s small act of sacrifice and kindness changed what happened in one of the busiest intersections in the world.

A Call to Action

This is what our world and our families need today. Men who see a need and meet it. Men who do something while everyone else complains. Men who will endure the shouts of the onlookers while they perform their acts of kindness. Men who keep the darkness at bay, one intersection at a time.

Small acts of kindness and love, little bits of good woven together over time. This is how a generation of men will overwhelm the brokenness of the world.

Every man longs to keep the darkness at bay, yet it turns out it's easier than you think.

Kind, normal, loving men meeting the needs in front of them.

This is how the light comes in.

Be courageous; be strong. Do everything in love. - 1 Corinthians 16:13-14

With You;
Pastor Tim