The Power of Dad | Brenda Yoder

When I was cleaning yesterday, *Harold* caught my eye.

[](http://brendayoder.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/imag1166.jpg)

Harold's been sitting on my husband's dresser for

......years

It's in the spot where he keeps his

"**important things"**
**
**
a sacred place I don't disturb but once-a-hardly-ever

***"Dad can fix anything"***

Echoed in my mind as I dusted around Harold as he perched among

**the important things.**

[](http://brendayoder.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/img_1896.jpg)
Harold's probably been there from about the time this picture was taken.

It was just yesterday.

Oh, wait, Harold's playmate is now 12.

I guess he's been there for more like
**
**
**at least five years.**

Poor Harold.
I'm thinking he probably won't get fixed
real soon.
But he's safe. He's among

***The Important Things.***
*
*
I was struck at how many things have sat on my husband's dresser because

**Dad can fix anything.**

My children say this rather matter-of-factly because "duh, mom, dad's invincible."

**He can fix anything.**

Now, I know really he can't. But he's always seemed to fix, at least temporarily, just about anything the kids have brought to him over the years that's been broken.

Tractor wheels,
rockets,
basketball hoops,
Barbie cars,
Star Wars figures,
and Harolds.

Time must have gone pretty quickly after Harold arrived among

**the important things **
because our youngest forgot about him. He probably transitioned from Thomas the Tank Engine to Star Wars. Kindergarten was probably the age, moving from little boy stuff to the serious stuff.

And here Harold still sits.
But his presence isn't forgotten
It's a testimony to the Power of Dad
Not just Yoder dad, but every dad.

In the eyes of children, DAD is a hero whether they want to be or not.
Dads wear an invisible cape seen only to their children

As a counselor, I often hear kids say
"I don't have a dad."

What they're really saying is,

"My dad isn't part of my world."

He's absent, not present, or even known.

But kids still yearn for his presence.
Because in their eyes, Dad's presence,
or lack of it
is immeasurably powerful,

As our kids have gotten older,
I still hear
"Dad can fix it"

I've been tempted to tell our older-and-wiser children
he really can't,
Because the toys now are things that move
like cars and electronics

But I hesitate,
[](http://brendayoder.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/imag1167.jpg)knowing their hero with the cape
will at least *attemp*t to fix it
he may or not succeed.
But the process itself is powerful

To his kids, it says
*Somehow,*
*dad will take care of me.*
*
*
And if what's broken isn't fixed,
the example itself
Will find its way among
The Important Things
in life.

just like Harold.

P.S. My daughter, our firstborn, posted this about her dad on facebook.
Just a reminder of the influence of the invisible cape.

*"Before his downfall a man's heart is proud, but humility comes before honor."*
*
*
* Proverbs **18:12*
*"My dad is the most humble and hardworking man I know."*
*
*

There's a superman in your house, too.

[](http://brendayoder.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/mc900433233.jpg)