It is Father’s Day!
For most men, to ‘become’ a father, by physically creating life is soooooo very easy! One could say that every fiber of a man’s being is made for it.
But today, we do not celebrate ‘fathering’ day, we celebrate ‘Father’s Day,’ and the two are so very different.
Some men think that their ‘fathering’ ability makes them dads … but Hallmark could tell them a different story. A few years back cards were donated to the inmates of a prison, to give for Mother’s Day. The response was so great that it was offered again at Father’s Day. And the number of cards accepted, and given out … zero! All of those incarcerated had both a mother and a father (the basics of reproduction), but none of them chose to celebrate their ‘male-maker’ …
… perhaps their fathers only ‘fathered’ them
To BE a father, is so much more, and I am so very blessed to have a dad, who is a father.
He was there when I had skinned knees
He was there when I was fascinated with polly wogs
He was there when I needed new satin shorts (there’s a story here)
He was there when I was a sullen adolescent
He was there during my various musical taste stages (from Olivia Newton John to Michael Jackson)
He was there when I was failing Science, and the teacher said I would never be a nurse … my dream (and came home from the parent-teacher meeting to tell me my teacher was an idiot … dad was right, by the way)
He was there when a guy would come over to our house to see me (and glare, as any good dad would)
He was there when a guy broke my heart
He was there when I went to university
He was there when I quit university
He was there when I married
He was there when our hearts were broken through each pregnancy loss
He was there when our hearts were joyful through each safe arrival of our three ‘earthly’ kids
He was there
He was there
He was there
(getting the point yet?)
My dad is the best father in the world, even though he didn’t father me. He taught me what I needed to know, he showed his unconditional love for me, he punished me when I deserved it, he gave grace when I didn’t deserve it. It is through my dad, my earthly father, that I can know the goodness of God, my heavenly father.
To my dad, who has always been, and will always be ‘there’, I love you.
It is not flesh and blood
but the heart
which makes us fathers and sons daughters.
~Johann Schiller
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