It’s Father’s Day. Today the world celebrates fathers around the world. In the same vein, I choose to celebrate my father with a blog post. I have learned so much from him right from my childhood. Here are a few amongst many:

1. Devotion to God.
My father always brings the family together for devotion every morning. He uses a devotional called “Every Day with Jesus” by Selwyn Hughes  to share God’s word with us. As we (children) grew older, he  gave each person occasionally to share from the devotional. It helped shape our (children) values and build our Character.

2. Passion for Education.
My father did everything possible for us to get a good education. He always talks to us on the need for a sound education. He sent us to good schools.

3. Sacrifice
His passion for education came with a huge sacrifice on his part. He denied himself a flamboyant lifestyle and luxury for us to get quality education. He worked so hard: we never went a day without food. All because he denied himself from extravagant spending. I remember him telling me ‘ I sacrificed 15 years of my life for you to go to good schools”. He encourages people he meets to get a good education.

4. Intergrity.
During devotions, he emphasised the need to live a life of honesty and integrity. This he portrayed through his lifestyle and it was easy for us to follow suit. “If you lose your integrity, you will pay a higher price  getting  things done” he said. He always used an illustration of a man who sold cow milk to a community. The community later realized he diluted the milk with water which was true, and they lost trust in him. This made him come with the cow, and milk it before their presence. This story has stuck with me and still guides whatever I do.

5. Discipline and Planning.
I know how he built his house. It took a lot of planning and discipline with the resources he had. He had a family to cater for, he had bills to pay but through strategic planning, he built a house despite the many challenges he had to deal with in terms of finance. He planted trees and flowers on the plot of land he was to build on, and when he finished building, the trees were all grown and few years later started producing fruits.

6. Love for his Children.
Most times, when we (children) request for stuffs from him, he might say NO but in most cases he gives us later. Though he is a disciplinarian, he still shows us love by correcting us for our own good. He always makes sure there is food on the table.
He has set a standard for me to follow, and I have to live up to that.

Love you daddy and Happy Father’s Day!