MONDAY MORNING REFLECTION--HONORING FATHERS

BY STEVE DUNN

I haven't posted in a while but out of the inspiration of Father's Day ant the fine fathers I am privileged to pastor, I though this would make a good Monday Morning Reflection.

"The LORD is like a father to his children, tender and compassionate to those who fear him." - Psalms 103.13 New Living Translation

Fathers often get a bad rap in our culture.  Part of it is the egalitarian bias that tends to lower these former authority figures to lift up mothers and children.  Part of it tendency to define the feminine side as the nurturing one and the masculine as the demanding side.  And part of this is because there are some fathers unworthy of the name or position which tend to get the  focus of the social critics. I could turn this into a rant with even more illustrations, so let my first statement suffice. Fathers often get a bad rap.

The problem is that I don't buy it. Each day as a pastor I meet superb fathers.  Men who love their children deeply.  Who hold them and hug them.  Men who come home tired yet read to their little one or climb back into the car to take a son or daughter to soccer practice.  Dads who do not bark orders but who patiently teach.  Dads who know their children's dreams and work overtime to help those children realize their dreams.

Fathers who build tree houses and coach teams.  Fathers who kiss boo-boos and hold a crying babe in the most tender of arms.  Dads who take their children to church and teach them to pray and maybe even teach a Sunday School class for their kids and their friends or chaperone retreats.

Dads who discipline with patience and set boundaries.  Fathers who teach responsibility and model accountability.  Fathers who exhibit a 24/7 faith in God and live with personal integrity.

And Father who bless their children with stable homes by loving their wives with the sacrificial leadership of Jesus Christ.

Maybe it's time to honor those Dads.  To affirm them and support them and bless them.  That just may change their children's eternal destinies.