It was two weeks
into what would be a six-week forced sick leave from work for my husband. He
had hurt his back and had lifting restrictions of no more than 10-15 pounds.
His employer barred him from working until all restrictions had been removed by
his physician.
During this time,
our youngest daughter Hillary was to participate in Jump Rope for Heart. This
was a program at her school that was both for fun and to raise money to prevent
heart disease.
Hillary would need a
jump rope. I heard her ask several times, “Hey, Daddy, will you get me a
jump rope?” I can’t recall hearing a response to those questions. I did
imagine Hillary taking her Daddy down the toy isle to pick out a jump rope and
roping him into buying her some candy at the same time.
One afternoon as I
walked through the kitchen, I caught a glimpse of my husband out back sitting
on the railroad tie wall whittling something. His glasses had slid down to the
end of his nose and sweat was running down his face. I stopped and watched him
for a moment. Next to him on the railroad tie wall were three lengths of rope
each cut to about 6 feet long. Laid out next to the rope were four small blocks
of wood. I kept watching. In his hands were two wooden handles.
I wondered what he
was going to do next, so I kept watching. He drilled a hole in the end of each
handle. Then he chose a length of rope. I fought back tears as I realized what
he was doing. He put the end of each piece of rope into each end of the wooden
handles he had carved. He was answering Hillary’s request to get her a jump
rope. But this was not just any jump rope. This was a custom made, Daddy
quality jump rope!
While I was watching
him assemble the jump rope, the verse from Matthew 7:11 in
the Bible came to mind: “If you, then, though you are evil, know how to
give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give
good gifts to those who ask him!”
I finally went
outside to see this special project. My husband had made not one but three
custom-made jump ropes, one for each of our daughters. By now three little
girls were painting the handles of their jump rope in their favorite color.
Hillary had picked yellow, Hennie’s was pink and Hannah’s was purple. After the
first coat of paint had dried, painted flowers were added, each different, on
the three sets of jump rope handles.I thought again about how we ask our
Heavenly Father for something. I think it is true that when we do get it from
our Heavenly Father, it will always be something far better than we could have
ever imagined. It will be something unique and custom made with
“Daddy” (Heavenly Father) quality!
