The Light

Claire lights
My daughter has this thing for lights.

When Claire was born the doctors said she was really observant, which apparently is a sign of intelligence (she gets if from my wife). I remember Claire looking at the many lights in the labor room and I thought how interesting it was that so young she was able to see them. Now, almost 5 months old, Claire continues to look towards the light. I will literally have her in my arms and move her from one side of the room to the other just to see her little neck turn as she follows the light.

Claire loves the light.

There are moments when Claire will have her eyes focused on the light and a distraction causes her to turn away. Usually this distraction comes in the form of a noise brought on by my incredibly hyper mutt of a dog named Rocky. When Claire realizes it’s just the dog, she tries to fix her eyes back on the light. Claire will often search and not find it. She will move her little head back and forth in desperation searching. I usually have to turn her so that I can point her in the right direction. When she sees it she is glued to it.

Claire loves The Light.

As a father I recognize that there will always be distractions in Claire’s life. My daughter will have her attention taken away from The Light by various noises, people and things. It is my job to always point Claire back to The Light. It is also my responsibility to make sure that I, as well as my wife are not allowing distractions and noise to pull us away from The Light or else we will not be able to guide Claire towards it.

I want Claire to be a saint.

That’s right, that incredibly “antiquated” thing that many deem impossible. I’m convinced that the reason we don’t have more saints in the world is because they have taken their eyes off of The Light. The distraction and noises–the other “shiny” things–caught their attention and they went from the True Light of the world to something flourescent, LED, fake.  I see this a lot unfortunately and those fake lights can be pretty and enticing. They come in all shapes and colors and they can be custom-made to fit your own desire.

As I write these words while I hold my daughter my one desire and prayer is, ‘God please help me keep her eyes is fixed on You.’ Sure I want her to be successful, intelligent, creative and all those things that make life good, BUT…never at the expense of her losing her focus on God.

So daddy will continue to point her back to the light. Wave to her when her eyes catch the thousands of other shiny things, because even though they may be nice to look at in that moment, Claire loves The Light.

Comments

20 responses to “The Light”

  1. joecruzmn Avatar

    you’re are the first blog I have come across talking about Fatherhood. Maybe I haven’t looked hard enough but I see more blogs on Motherhood. Great article

    1. Leo Avatar
      Leo

      thanks! yeah I have seen some, but havent been impressed.

    2. eccentricfatherhood Avatar

      There does not seem to be very many decent dad blogs. I have enjoyed Year of the Dad, The Evolving Dad, and Snoozing on the Sofa. But the posts I have read tend to trend more towards the humors side than the serious. (Thats the way my blog trends)

      I have also seen several blogs with a couple posts but nothing more… Hope this doesn’t turn out to be one of those. I like it so far. Thanks, Aaron

      1. Leo Avatar
        Leo

        Oh I have a lot to write about, but I want to pace myself. Thanks for the comment

  2. Tricia Avatar
    Tricia

    God is smiling at you right now, Leo! Claire is blessed to have a Daddy like you! Great blog and I look forward to reading more in the future! 🙂

    1. Leo Avatar
      Leo

      Thanks Tricia!

  3. Rick Crawford Avatar

    I enjoyed the post. Very inspiring

    1. Leo Avatar
      Leo

      Thank you!MEans a lot coming from a writer

  4. Migue Avatar
    Migue

    Great job, Leo! I look forward to read more.

    1. Leo Avatar
      Leo

      Thanks bud. I think I may be talking to you about some artwork. I have some ideas for my blog cover that you may be interested in.

  5. This World | Discovering Fatherhood Avatar

    […] desires for their children. I wrote about my desire for Claire to be a Saint in one of my original blog posts. Yet in all we do, say and show to her the world has a million more ways of conveying its […]

  6. google plus android phone Avatar

    Wow, this post is fastidious, my younger sister is analyzing these kinds
    of things, therefore I am going to inform her.

    1. Leo Avatar

      Thanks for your comment. This is probably my favorite post that I’ve ever written

  7. calculadora de ovulacion en youtube Avatar

    Thanks for finally talking about >The Light | Discovering Fatherhood <Loved it!

    1. Leo Avatar

      you’re welcome

  8. Rodger Avatar

    Hello there! I know this is kinda off topic but I was wondering if you
    knew where I could locate a captcha plugin for my comment form?
    I’m using the same blog platform as yours and I’m having
    trouble finding one? Thanks a lot!

    1. Leo Avatar

      I have no idea what a captcha is. Sorry

  9. kucu.lt Avatar

    Excellent article. Keep writing such kind of info on your page.
    Im really impressed by it.
    Hey there, You have done an incredible job. I’ll certainly digg it and for my part suggest to
    my friends. I am confident they’ll be benefited from this site.

    1. Leo Avatar

      Thanks. I really appreciate that.

  10. Not the Usual | Discovering Fatherhood Avatar

    […] those who open their doors. It will be an opportunity to share a little bit about a great Saint. My first real blog post on this journey of discovering fatherhood consisted of sharing about my desire for my daughter to […]

Leave a reply to google plus android phone Cancel reply