You may not have had an ideal father; the truth is that most people haven’t. You may be one of the few blessed ones. Appreciate them right now, find out how they did it, replicate it, and teach it. Our society can’t afford to allow that to fade into history. For those who didn’t have a good father, it will help you and future generations to become one. We expect our parents to be perfect, but as we mature, we discover they are human, thus fallible. As we get older and can see our mortality, it’s easier to forgive our parents as we want to be forgiven. No one has seen perfect love from a perfect father. However, it’s exactly what God wants to do for us.
See what an incredible quality of love the Father has shown to us, that we would [be permitted to] be named and called and counted the children of God! And so we are!
1 John 3:1
Fathers and God
Fathers play an integral role in our image of God. For example, if our father was angry, impatient, apathetic, distant, perverted, or violent, it’s how we see come to see God as well. We gain eyes to see beyond our pain by getting to know our God as we meditate on His word. Our heavenly Father wants us to know Him and His great wisdom, power, righteousness, and love for us. The mighty Lord wants to be our father.
If you then, evil (sinful by nature) as you are, know how to give good and advantageous gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven [perfect as He is] give what is good and advantageous to those who keep on asking Him.
Matthew 7:11
Father Loss
Maybe you’ve lost your father to death, estrangement, or abandonment; know that God desires to be your father. Know that God can use something in every father to impact their children’s lives positively. Thank God for this gift; if your father is around, thank him. Everyone will lose their father at one point in life. We don’t need to fear. If we no longer have our Father, we have a heavenly Father who knows us the best and loves us the most. He is just a prayer away for comfort, guidance, and even protection.
and I will be a father to you,
2 Corinthians 6:18
and you shall be sons and daughters to me,
says the Lord Almighty.”
Poem
I wrote a poem about my dad for my first poetry book, “Everyday Matters.” Below is the updated version that I’ll have in my second edition of the book. It’s a simple poem, but it’s still true today.
