All over the country today, in churches large and small, the pastor asked all fathers to stand and be recognized. Then they were thanked for their efforts in raising a family, especially in the Christian way, and, last but not least, the congregation gave them a round of applause.
The pastor then preached a sermon for the occasion, extolling the virtues of the Christian Dad and following with some pointed remarks about how these men could perhaps do a little bit better. He reminded the fathers of Biblical passages that told what a father should be and ended with an admonition to do better.
Well, the preacher probably did not say it in quite those words, but that is often what I hear. All those passages and Biblical wisdom sometimes just seems to point out the areas of failure that can relate to dads in general and me in particular. What is probably meant as an encouraging message can be easily flipped on its ear by the listener, into a guilt trip of the first magnitude.
There is no doubt that I made mistakes in raising my kids, probably too many to count. Did we do some things right, sure. Did they mature to be responsible adults, you bet. Did we have a lot of fun and make a lot of great memories along the way, no doubt.
I know "great" is an overused word these days, but that is how I describe my kids, their spouses and their offspring. (I would say awesome, but that is more overused.)
So what is my role as a Dad and our role as parents, today? First of all to be an example as to live out life, secondly to be encouragers, and thirdly to help when asked. On top of all this is to be faithful to pray for them all.
My prayer above all of this today is for God to take away the effects of any bad decisions on my part as I tried to lead them, and to draw them close to Him so that they can avoid doing the same.
My advice to the dads and moms, multiply the good things your dad did and push all that other stuff under the rock, and ask God to show you the difference.
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