On "Scarlet Ribbons" and Father's Day

          OK, it really wasn't Father's Day, that was a couple of weeks past, but it was on a Sunday and I trust that you will understand the connection as we proceed. The bride of my life had an errand to run and she told me to agreed to stop and get it accomplished on our way home from church.

          I pulled into Kelly's drive and as my wife gets out of the car I tell her that I won't come in unless Kelly is appropriately attired. (Kelly is a single Mom but her son was with the Dad this weekend and it occurred to me that she just might be sleeping in, or having a slow Sunday morning, or something. I'm sensitive to this kind of thing.)

          Well, the door opens a crack and my bride is whisked inside. Kelly has three dogs that just love to escape the confines of her house and run the neighborhood till recaptured by a wildly running posse of helpful friends. (One dog was actually lost for 6 months several years prior and it was a real miracle that she was ever retrieved, but that is another story.) I'm not certain if Kelly is still in her “nightie” or fully dressed having just come from church, but as the seconds become minutes and the minutes add up by fives and then tens I begin to get the inkling that just maybe her attire isn't such that my bride wants me to come inside.

          It's 98 plus degrees outside so as I give up on the possibility of being invited inside and shut the car door. I start the car and turn up the air conditioning. Next I look around for something to do. As I rummage through my bride's car's console I find some old cassette tapes. One is by The Kingston Trio, another The Student Prince with Mario Lanza, to give you an idea of my musical taste as well as the age of most of my find. I pop The Kingston Trio's into the tape player, after finally figuring out where it's hidden and how to engage it. Soon the car is filled with refrigerated air and nostalgia.

          One of their tunes is “Scarlet Ribbons”. Now that surprised me for I would have sworn that Harry Belafonte had a 'lock' on that song; but nope, here were the three white guys giving it a go. I listened to it with some enjoyment, then fumbled with the intricate controls to replay the song. The words really hit a soft spot with me.

“I peeked in to say goodnight,
And then I heard my child in prayer:
'And for me some scarlet ribbons,
Scarlet ribbons for my hair'.

All the stores were closed and shuttered,
All the streets were dark and bare.
In our town, no scarlet ribbons,
Not one ribbon for her hair

Through the night my heart was aching,
Just before the dawn was breaking,
I peeked in and on her bed,
In gay profusion lying there,
Lovely ribbons, scarlet ribbons,
Scarlet ribbons for her hair

If I live to be a hundred,
I will never know from where,
Came those lovely scarlet ribbons,
Scarlet ribbons, for her hair!”

Lyrics: Jack Segal

Music: Evelyn Danzig

         

          I know, it's probably just me, but those words really struck a cord in my heart. Of course the obvious was the miraculous appearance of ribbons on the child's bed; and from the entire song's lyrics even I could deduce that their appearance was the loving gift from an adoring Heavenly Father. But what struck me, probably an age thing, was the gift that the earthly father had given to his child. The gift of faith. Faith in a God. A God that was so loving and caring that a child could ask for, and yes even expect to receive that for which she prayed.

          No greater gift can a parent bestow; no greater Father's Day gift receive, than to have child who loves and lives for God the Heavenly Father.

          Thank you Jack Segal for those wonderful words.