Fathers Day
Happy Fathers Day to all. To those who celebrate, who mourn, who are confused, who are grateful, who feel blessed, who feel lost, and everything mixed and in between.
Today, above all else, I am grateful for my Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ. He is the perfect father, truly. And as for my earthly Father, my prayer today is that The Lord would fill him, lift him up, encourage him, guide him, because my dad is God’s son before he is my dad.
And the greatest qualities that my dad shows in fatherhood, raising me up in the faith, being generous and supportive and providing and working hard and more… are qualities that the Lord shows through him. He is a representative of Christ in his best qualities, and I am grateful to reap that love. And in the things he lacks (which I won’t specifically mention because don’t we all lack something), I am thankful for a perfect Father who fills and overflows those spaces, for the both of us, my dad and I.
My heart goes to those who are in mourning of their dads. Those who struggle to have a relationship with their earthly fathers. Those who have lost a father, in death, in separation, in abandonment… the perfect design that God created for fathers to be the rock of the household, to be present and stable, to be supportive and proud of their children is thwarted by the enemy and by the brokenness of this world.
And not to get so deep on a beautiful sunny Sunday (but I will), where Fathers Day feels like a day that should be lighthearted and laughter and smiles, which in many cases is and that’s such a beautiful thing, my heart is with those where that’s not necessarily the reality.
The good news is that through any hurt and pain that may result from the brokenness of the world in father figures, Our Father comes through. Jesus loves you. He cares for you. He thinks the world and more of you. He hand-picked us to be his sons and daughters. You. He is proud of you. He is there for you at all times. He deeply loves you. Agape love. Selfless love. Love that you don’t have to earn. Don’t have to be “good enough” for.
In Matthew 6:9-13, Jesus publicly shares a model of how to pray sincerely for us to follow. He begins, “Our Father, who art in heaven…” Our Father. That is how he wants us to address him. Not King Jesus, El Shaddai, El Elyon, Adonai, Yahweh, Jehovah Rapha, Elohim, not Holy Counselor, Prince of Peace, Mighty God… although these are all names and qualities of God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. But Father. Loving, perfect father. The One who wraps us in his arms, who weeps with us, who celebrates with us, who deeply knows and understands us, who provides for us and gifts us with more than we can imagine. Our Father who just asks that we come to him, we lay things down in surrender at his feet.
He is a good, good Father. We give it all to him. Happy Fathers Day.
And for the dads out there, present and future alike, I’ve got a prayer for you. That you may be filled with Jesus, so that his love may be perfected within you, so that you can go out and show the love of Christ to your children and your children’s children. The kids you have in your house now, the kids who have all grown up and grown old, the kids you will have one day. I pray that you may be strengthened by the Father who loves you. That you may be refined and healed and equipped to do the Lord’s work above all else.
