Ephesians
3:14-15 (NIV) “For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name.”
Last Sunday was Father’s Day. Just like Mother’s Day, Father’s Day can be a hard day, for several reasons. For those who were not able to have kids, for those who had a complicated relationship with their father, for those who just lost a father, for fathers who feel like they failed as a father, and for many other reasons, Father’s Day can be difficult.
There is no such thing as a perfect earthly father. We are all flawed and have things from our past we regret. That is all part of maturing. If we are growing, we will become aware of things in our past that we wish we would have done differently.
Nobody is exempt from this human condition. That’s okay. My father was not a perfect father. Neither was his father, nor his father’s father. And if Ruth and I could have had kids I would have been far from the perfect father.
More than 30 years ago, as I was grappling with these things. I prayed to my Father in Heaven and asked Him to father me in the ways that my earthly father was incapable of doing. He has been faithful all my life.
Now as I look back, I can have compassion on my father and on myself and be thankful to my Heavenly Father for His goodness. No matter how good your father was or wasn’t, we have a God in Heaven who is more loving, more compassionate, more nurturing, and more generous than we could ever imagine. And He is good. Why not ask Him to Father you today?
