Just Like Daddy

We all know the strength of a mother.

She carries a baby for nine months,

Enduring all changes physically and emotionally.

Just to experience heightened pain in birth,

As the little one violently enters the world,

Spilling blood on its first day of life.

It is why we love women.

It is why we honor their strength.

But as society moved, we had forgotten the father.

The type of man who walks with the woman

Every step of the way.

The one who cares for her while she’s sick,

Tends to her every need,

Deals with all emotional changes and crazy cravings.

We’ve erased him because for many, he doesn’t exist.

But let me open your eyes to this,

For I’ve seen a father in complete bliss

Holding his first child; his first baby.

Keep the same reaction with the addition of siblings.

Three children all to the same woman,

Yet, his first glance at his children warmed my heart.

After watching his wife put her life on the line,

The stress is allowed to reside

As her breathing returns to normal

And she is able to rest.

Then comes the gasp of a little one made in his image.

The first for daddy, though mothers won’t admit it.

He is patient as the doctors wrap his child in blankets.

There’s a smile on his face filled with nervousness.

Then they bring his child and rest her in his hands.

His eyes light up

Because she’s beautiful.

Not on the outside, and not from within.

She’s beautiful because he says she is,

As he rocks her back and forth to a state of peace,

And grazes a finger down her skin.

He plays with her toes,

Slides his fingertips into her grip,

Being careful not to disturb her so her mother can sleep.

But it is the following moment we must give attention.

For out of his eyes streams a tear or two,

As his heart bleeds for his baby.

She’s so tender, so soft,

So oblivious to the evil going on around her.

He must protect his little angel.

He holds her heart next to his ear

And listens in the stillness for that small, beating organ.

There is life in his hands,

And he had something to do with it.

Not once, not twice, but three little children.

Gifts that only God can bring.

A gift that can break a man’s heart,

Because he knows he is unworthy.