Presence and Provision

Providing is something we do.

Presence is a choice we make.

I have been thinking about that as Father’s Day gets closer.

My father worked hard. He provided shelter, food, transportation, routine, discipline, and faith. I do not remember the lights being turned off. I do not remember there not being food. It may not have always been fancy, but it was there.

Sandwiches on grocery days.

Fried chicken.

Cornbread.

Biscuits in the morning.

Sweet tea so strong it could almost get up and walk away.

He provided the ordinary things that made life stable.

But looking back now, I realize he did more than provide.

He was there.

I do not remember him missing much.

That challenges me.

I have worked hard too, but I wish I had been more present at times. I have been too busy, too distracted, too caught up in trying to keep life moving.

Providing matters.

But presence asks something different of us.

It asks us to lay the phone down.

It asks us to prioritize the calendar.

It asks us to notice the lives and struggles of our children and grandchildren.

It asks us not only to make life possible, but to be awake inside the life we helped make possible.

That is what I am still learning.

The DKP Word 2026
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