Today I made you a promise that I can't guarantee that I'll keep. "I'll teach you how to shave your face. I promise." As soon as the words left my mouth I realized the carelessness of my words. So, to remedy the situation, I began to talk to you about how to shave your face as I finished shaving my own. And then I showed you how. You had already slathered conditioner all over your face trying to put on shaving cream like I had done, so I used the smooth backside of my razor to walk you through the steps of shaving, going with the grain versus against it, where to be extra careful because of your chin or other more difficult areas. I told you all the tricks I know for getting a smooth shave and avoiding irritation after shaving. Then we washed off your face and patted down your cheeks and you finished shaving for the first time.
Son, you're two years old. But today I taught you everything I could think of about shaving because the fact is, I'm not guaranteed tomorrow. I can't truly promise you that I'll teach you how to shave when you are old enough. Buddy, you're teaching me how to be more aware of what I say, of the well-intentioned promises that I make but may not be able to keep. You are teaching so much. And I just wanted to write this for you to have one day so that you know how thankful to the Lord I am for you and how precious of a gift you are to me. I love you and, though I don't always show it in the ways that I would like, I cherish every moment I have with you and pray desperately for you to grow up to be a mighty man of God, for you to serve Him with every fiber of your being, and for you to lead others in knowing Him as well.
I may sometimes make promises to you without thinking about whether I can actually keep them or not. I may sometimes even break a promise that I could have kept. But, I want you to know that I am striving to be a man of my word, to keep the promises that I make to you, even when you're two years old and want to learn how to shave your face like daddy.
I love you, son.
Daddy
