You have to admit, that as a society, we do not respect fathers the way we used to. Let’s look at the past by way of the media in the past 60 years. Take, for example, the sitcom “Leave It To Beaver” from the late 1950s, early 1960s. Ward Cleaver was taken seriously by his children. They respected his opinion and even asked his advice once in a while. Fast forward to any show on the Disney Channel. Dad is a joke. Kids make fun of him constantly. He is a doofus klutzy moron that cannot do anything right. Don’t look at me, you let your kids watch this as harmless entertainment. Think about it – it is not really harmless, is it? Disney, and other kids’ entertainment venues are telling your kids what to think and how to think it. I could go on with so many more subjects that these conglomerates are filling your kids’ minds with, but for now, let’s just stick to the subject of Dads.
Let’s just start with the words dad and father. The word father itself puts in mind a respectful attitude. When I hear the word father I think of my Heavenly Father. My Father supplies all my needs and some of my wants, too. My Father created the universe, and all that is in the universe. He placed the stars in space, he created the sky and the sea, the land and well, simply all that there is. The things the man creates, my Father gave man the mind to be able to create all of them. And the air that man breathes, my Father created that. If He did not do that, man would not be here to create the things that he thinks he has created.
Because of all that, I have great respect for my Father. I stand in awe of my Father. He is my creator. I am not worthy of anything my Father has given me. I was born in sin and was on my way to eternal damnation. My Father, though, in his infinite wisdom, came up with the plan of salvation through Jesus Christ. Through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ I am able to approach my Father and come before him. Now when my Father sees me, He sees the sacrifice of His son through me. Now I am clean because of the sacrifice of the son.
Now, thru prayer, I can come to the Father through the son and speak intimately with the Father. That’s a pretty great arrangement. Now I can come to the Father through the son, and have a relationship where I can talk to the Father through his agape love. His pure, sacrificial love brings me into that intimate relationship, so close that through His love I have a spiritual relationship with the Father that is a relationship similar to the earthly term “daddy”, or dad. Do you have a close relationship with your dad, or your earthly father?
The relationship between you and your earthly father should be a picture (or a reflection) of your relationship with your Heavenly Father. In the Christian home, that relationship should be that reflection. It shows your children the relationship that should perpetuate the Christian character, the character that relies on the Father for help in any given situation.
Now, I am not crazy about leaving this writing at this picture, but thinking on the things that were just stated, fatherless families, fathers that are jokes, homes where mothers are now trying to fill the roll of fathers – we can sort of see why society no longer respects earthly fathers, and why our Heavenly father no longer has the respect of society in general.
If you have a relationship with The Father, please start praying for your dad, dads in general. Pray that our relationship with The Father would continue to grow. Pray for society in general. Even so, LORD, come quickly!
A Tribute to My Dad
My dad was born September 3, 1921 – so had he lived, he would have been 100 this year! Happy Birthday, Dad!
Dad was born during a really depressed economy. Well, the Great Depression didn’t kick in until 1929, but you couldn’t tell that it had not already started from my family history! Dad was the ninth of ten children. He, at the age of four, along with a younger brother, who was two, were shipped off to an orphanage. Their mother, who was recently widowed, was no longer able to keep enough food on the table for all of the children. The older children were able to work, and there was no one left to care for the little ones. She got remarried soon afterwards, but apparently the man she married did not want little kids around – so they stayed in the orphanage for the rest of their childhood.
Even today, when I think about that situation it makes my blood boil. When Dad talked about his mom though, it was always with great fondness. He never talked about it, he would not divulge much information to me (once I was married, he told more stuff about his past to my wife than he had ever told me). This was the strength of my dad – all the things that he had been through – he never dwelled on it – he showed no signs of bitterness. I never met my grandmother on his side, she died before I was born. I have more animosity toward that woman I never met than he did! Think about how much forgiveness that would entail!
Dad ran away from the orphanage when he was sixteen. I am not sure about the two or three years after that (another thing he never divulged), but by then WWII was in progress and he joined the navy and served in the South Pacific. The only story that he came up with to me from that era was that native girls in the South Pacific in those days didn’t wear much clothing. The sailors would buy sweaters for these girls to cover up with, but then the girls would cut holes in strategic locations in those sweaters such that they would negate the reason the sweaters were purchased in the first place!
I will say it this way – my Dad grew up without a father. He had no examples in his early life of what a dad should be. Therefore, he was probably not the best influence himself. He made plenty of mistakes. He punished when he should not have. He yelled when he probably shouldn’t have. He did the best he knew how with the help of our Heavenly Father and a wife that was trying to show him family however she could.
Though his childhood was not the best, Dad tried to make mine the best he could with the knowledge he had. He was the rock of the house. He made some mistakes sometimes, but he kept on going. He did not wimp out at trouble. There were arguments sometimes, not loud arguments, but arguments at night when they had shut the doors to their bedrooms. They did not argue in front of us when we were young. Another example that all should adhere to.
My Dad, just like any other human being was not perfect. He did not tell me a lot that he loved me. But we knew, we all did. He showed us the best he could. He lived before God and us an example of pulling yourself up and going on with life, no matter what it threw at you.
Dad, you are doing better than I am at the moment. You are living on streets of gold. All those childhood memories are probably gone. You are at perfect peace continually. Happy 100th birthday year!
AE
Voice of the Introverts 