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No voice conveys love and creates hope greater than the voice of one who loves you completely. A loving parent exemplifies this level of devoted love like no other.

Author Mitch Albom says it perfectly.

“When you look into your mother’s eyes, you know that is the purest love you can find on this earth.”

The same is true for dads even if our eyes are not quite as gentle looking as moms!

These are the voices our children need the most. They need to hear our love, feel our love, and see our love. Our hope will give them hope. Our resilience will in turn teach them to be resilient.

But what if our voice is broken? What if we struggle to get back up? What if our voice sings out of tune, such as you will hear as you listen to today’s Sunday Reflection? Fortunately our cute granddaughter Savannah should more than compensate for my off-key singing!

Should we be silent if we are still building our faith, struggling with hope, or striving to feel love?

No!

These are the voices our children need to hear the most!

Yes, we should be strong for our children. A wonderful way to share our strength is to share our journey through struggles, rising from our ashes, springing into hope even if it feels more like crawling and clawing our way up.

I appreciate what Bethany Bridges shares in her book, “How to Be a Good Dad.”

“Parents are not perfect, nor are they saints. Dads and moms make mistakes all the time. How you handle these situations will be an important life lesson for your children.”

And this wise counsel from Gordon B. Hinckley:

“As parents, we should remember that our lives may be the book from the family library which the children most treasure. Are our examples worthy of emulation? Do we live in such a way that a son or a daughter may say, ‘I want to follow my dad,’ or ‘I want to be like my mother’? Unlike the book on the library shelf, the covers of which shield its contents, our lives cannot be closed. Parents, we truly are an open book in the library of learning of our homes.”

Our stories, our voices, our love will have an incredible sustaining impact on our children.

And so will the love of God.

We are his children.
He loves us just as we are.
He sees us exactly where we are.

God loves our voice, just as our children do, even if we sing out of tune.

Have a beautiful Sunday!

We love you!

Les & Elisa