A Father By Any Other Name

Growing up, you always said:

“I am not your Father. I am your dad.”

For a long time it didn’t fully make sense

Then it became so normal to me

And other kids did not understand what I meant

When I said that I had a Father and a dad

And for a long time I didn’t understand

That these kids didn’t see the world as I did

“So your dad isn’t actually your dad?”

“No, he is. He’s just not my Father.”

“So… he adopted you?”

“No, he didn’t. I’m his.”

It always ended in confusion

And me being so young

Was baffled by their bafflement

Growing up, you always said:

“I love you. God loves you. Jesus loves you. And he’s gonna do great things with your life.”

You’d then kiss my head

Tuck me in

And turn out the light

The “Goodnight” ritual

Growing up, you always said:

“Your plans may be great. God’s plans are greater.”

What I didn’t understand for a long time

Is that you said those words from a place of experience

Because you had spent years running away from

God’s greatest

In pursuit of kingdoms you had dreamt up,

Building castles out of sand

I am not one to over praise my daddy

Because my daddy taught me that all praise

Is for my Father

For my Jesus

For my Saviour

For my King

I have not and will never claim to have

“The world’s best dad”

I am not so naive or arrogant to truly believe that he is

Let Ben Platt have the finest and greatest

But my dad is good

And he tries

And he has raised me on the knowledge

That he is not perfect, but I have a Heavenly Father who is

He has instilled in me truths that are tested and tried

And still remain sure

There is this man in my life

Who has always loved me

Who has always taken care of me

Who has always done his best

He isn’t a perfect father

But he is a good dad