TSMSS - Father's Day Tribute

There are some great songs out there to post for Father's Day. Steven Curtis Chapman's Cinderella. Bob Carlisle's Butterfly Kisses. Phillips, Craig, & Dean's I Want to be Just Like You. Wayne Watson's Watercolor Ponies.

Even some great classic oldies come to mind: The Mills Brothers' Daddy's Little Girl. Bobby Goldsboro's Watching Scotty Grow. And Harry Chapin's Cat's in the Cradle. As well as a whole host of country songs.

But most of them are from the standpoint of the dad singing to/about the child. And precious though they are, they weren't exactly what I was looking for. Maybe because I'm not a dad?!

But I did have one. And although my dad died almost 13 years ago, I've been remembering him and his influence, learning to embrace the positive and forgive the mistakes. I've come to cherish many of the traits I inherited from him, from my long legs to my sense of direction to my memory for dates & minutiae, as well as my foundation of faith and other characteristics .

And then I remembered this sweet song that Wayne Watson sang almost 10 years ago. Turning Into Dad is the last song on his 2000 album (which was simply titled Wayne Watson), and it's a fitting and beautiful tribute. Wayne Watson has also just released a book this week about his dad, also called Turning Into Dad. On his website he says,

"After I recorded the song, I started writing down thoughts and memories of growing up as my father's son. The memories just came pouring and I realized that most of us have many thoughts in common about our dads. I am turning into him. Some of his more noble characteristics, I hope and pray, have taken root and are holding.

"There were some great things about my dad that I want to embrace for my lifetime. But, he and I would agree that there are things in all of us better left behind. Bridges built of less honorable characteristics that will not be missed. And I pray for the wisdom to know which is which. We all have this challenge and so I wrote this book, these very personal stories to help us sort it all out."

We may not like it, but there is no way around it. Good or bad, involved or distant, sober or drunk, they’re our dads and we need to find something about them to honor. While there are many things in Scripture that might be difficult to understand, given the abundance of opinion and commentary on more subjects than we can count, the honoring of our parents is an undeniable absolute.

(Note: I'm not sure why the imeem player says it's Bernie Herns - that is definitely Wayne Watson singing.)

(Click here for the whole song)
Turning Into Dad (LP Version) - Wayne Watson

TURNING INTO DAD

Guess I figured he would live forever
That I'd always have a place to turn
A shoulder I could always lean on
A teacher for those lessons yet unlearned
But good fathers too are only mortal
They long to rest in Jesus' arms
They want to walk the golden streets of heaven
When the vanities of earth have lost their charm

CHORUS
I will treasure the high and the finer things within him
And I know as he would have it
I will lay aside the bad
Of all the things that I could still become
I could do a whole lot worse
Than turning into dad

It was early on a springtime morning
The small hours of the sixteenth day
I was shaken from my fitful sleeping
In the not so very merry month of May

I cannot explain it but I just knew it in my heart
That my hero had breathed his last and said goodbye
We are flesh and we are spirit
And it's appointed to us once to really live
And once to die

(Repeat Chorus)

Words & Music by Wayne Watson, 2000

Happy Father's Day to you. If your dad's still living, take the time to cherish and spend some time with him in person or on the phone. If he's passed on, whether your relationship with him was healthy or not, thank God for the man who gave you life.

Find more songs at Amy's to bless your weekend.