{"id":21340,"date":"2023-06-16T09:00:32","date_gmt":"2023-06-16T13:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/?p=21340"},"modified":"2023-06-14T19:00:06","modified_gmt":"2023-06-14T23:00:06","slug":"lessons-my-dad-taught-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2023\/06\/lessons-my-dad-taught-me.html","title":{"rendered":"Lessons My Dad Taught Me"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Happy Father’s Day!<\/strong><\/p>\n

I know not everyone has a great relationship with their father. However, this Father\u2019s Day, I encourage you to think about your dad and find at least one thing he gave you as a gift. Was there a lesson you learned that has impacted who you are today? Some will think of many things, others will struggle. Since we are commanded to honor our fathers in whatever way we can, Father\u2019s Day is a perfect time to reflect on the positive.<\/p>\n

My father is no longer with me. He lived just shy of 98 years. While not a perfect man, he gave and taught me much! So many fond memories flood my mind when it comes to my dad. He was hard working, steady, strong, and loved my mom deeply.<\/p>\n

He taught me how to have fun, to relax, to go on vacation and see the country. Every summer, our family loaded up in our big Buick and discovered America. Some discoveries were a little cheesy, but most times, we were awed by our adventurous road trips.<\/p>\n

My dad had an upbeat attitude. He liked to explore, to see new things, and to meet people. In our small town, everyone knew him and greeted him by name. When he died, his funeral was packed with people I had never met who he touched in some meaningful way. His love for people, community and relationships rubbed off on me.<\/p>\n

My dad gave me security. He was always there and attended every recital, play and music competition in which I performed. My dad \u00a0never complained, even though I often noticed him napping during long piano recitals. He endured nightly music practices of three children who turned out to be decent musicians even though he didn\u2019t have much musical talent. Whatever we did, it was important for him to support us. And he always supported my mom.<\/p>\n

My dad pushed me. Sometimes, I felt he pushed too hard, but I knew his intent was to give me more opportunities than he had in his life. Education was one of the most important things to him. He believed it was the key to making a better life.<\/p>\n

Finally, my dad gave me an appreciation for the church and faith. He quietly served in whatever capacity needed. His humility and steady devotion marked his walk with God. And no matter the conflicts our church family presented, he taught me to love the body of Christ, appreciate their diversity and do my best to bring unity. And when we had differences with church leadership, we stayed and worked through conflicts.<\/p>\n

All dads have their issues. None of them is perfect. But this Father\u2019s Day, as you honor your dad with a special gift, or dinner out, or a new tie, take a moment to reflect on the gifts he gave you. Then let him know the lessons you learned from him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Happy Father’s Day! I know not everyone has a great relationship with their father. However, this Father\u2019s Day, I encourage you to think about your dad and find at least one thing he gave you as a gift. Was there a lesson you learned that has impacted who you are today? Some will think of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":419,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[914],"tags":[1402,1400,1401,6409,7164,7166],"class_list":["post-21340","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-family-relationships-2","tag-dads","tag-fathers-day","tag-fathers","tag-fathers-and-children","tag-lessons-from-dad","tag-life-lessons"],"yoast_head":"\nLessons My Dad Taught Me<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This Father\u2019s Day, Ithink about your dad and one thing he gave you as a gift. Was there a lesson you learned for today?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/?p=21340\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lessons My Dad Taught Me\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This Father\u2019s Day, Ithink about your dad and one thing he gave you as a gift. Was there a lesson you learned for today?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/?p=21340\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Doing Life Together\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/drlindamintle\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-06-16T13:00:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-06-14T23:00:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/258\/2023\/06\/IMG_0392-scaled.jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Linda Mintle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@drlindamintle\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Lessons My Dad Taught Me","description":"This Father\u2019s Day, Ithink about your dad and one thing he gave you as a gift. Was there a lesson you learned for today?","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/?p=21340","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Lessons My Dad Taught Me","og_description":"This Father\u2019s Day, Ithink about your dad and one thing he gave you as a gift. Was there a lesson you learned for today?","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/?p=21340","og_site_name":"Doing Life Together","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/drlindamintle\/","article_published_time":"2023-06-16T13:00:32+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-06-14T23:00:06+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/258\/2023\/06\/IMG_0392-scaled.jpeg"}],"author":"Linda Mintle","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@drlindamintle","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/?p=21340","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/?p=21340","name":"Lessons My Dad Taught Me","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/?p=21340#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/?p=21340#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/258\/2023\/06\/IMG_0392-scaled.jpeg","datePublished":"2023-06-16T13:00:32+00:00","dateModified":"2023-06-14T23:00:06+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/#\/schema\/person\/1e16a9c7332cfcc5b5d89e4ba3a36142"},"description":"This Father\u2019s Day, Ithink about your dad and one thing he gave you as a gift. Was there a lesson you learned for today?","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/?p=21340#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/?p=21340"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/?p=21340#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/258\/2023\/06\/IMG_0392-scaled.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/258\/2023\/06\/IMG_0392-scaled.jpeg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/?p=21340#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Lessons My Dad Taught Me"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/","name":"Doing Life Together","description":"Relationship Doctor, Mental Health, Emotional Wellness, Relationship Advice & Entertainment","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/#\/schema\/person\/1e16a9c7332cfcc5b5d89e4ba3a36142","name":"Linda Mintle","description":"It is rare that a trained academic who speaks passionately to the heart of people providing real answers to real life problems is so relatable. Dr. Linda\u2019s fun personality and expertise comes through whether she\u2019s helping her audience stress less or make peace with their thighs! Dr. Linda has her Ph.D. in Urban Health and Clinical Psychology and is a national expert on mental health. She has specialized in the treatment of eating disorders, anxiety, depression and pain management. With 30 years of clinical experience working with couples, families and individuals, she brings her common-sense approach to people who want to live in positive mental health. Dr. Linda is also a bestselling author with 21 book titles to her credit, a radio host of the Dr. Linda Mintle show, professor, national speaker, winner of the Mom\u2019s Choice Award, a national news consultant, featured writer for Beliefnet and hosts her own website. Her academic appointments keep her abreast of current research in her areas of expertise. Her media experience includes seven years as the resident expert for ABC Family\u2019s Living the Life television show and regular appearances on network television and radio. It is often said that being with Dr. Linda is like having coffee with a friend. She makes the complicated issues of relationships and mental health easy to understand and applicable to everyday living. The ease she has with people, coupled with her clinical training and experience makes her a sought-after speaker on college campuses, conferences and special events. Whether she is doing a TV skit with Tim Conway or discussing teen violence with Queen Latifa, Dr. Linda will entertain, educate and integrate faith and mental health in everyday living. Check out her latest book Hope and Healing for Anxiety, a whole-person approach to eliminate anxiety. .","sameAs":["https:\/\/drlindamintle.com\/","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/drlindamintle\/","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/drlindamintle\/","https:\/\/x.com\/drlindamintle"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/author\/lmintle"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21340","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/419"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21340"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21340\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21348,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21340\/revisions\/21348"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21340"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21340"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21340"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}