Thank you! My Dad has been gone for nearly 23 years now. I wish he were still here, but I know he is in a better place!
My Dad has been gone about 2 yrs. His B-day just passed (which always seemed to fall on or near Fathers Day) & I tried not to mention it to my Mom...hoping she forgot.
A very wise Christian woman once shared with me that we view the heavenly Father much the same way we have viewed our earthly fathers. I am convinced that that is true. Our earthly fathers were designed to 'model' the heavenly One. Mine was a man of integrity (which I value and seek to imitate) but there was no personal love. He was strict and distant. I don't blame him because that was how he probably viewed his own. However, that is how I view my God and I work constantly on seeing the Biblical image of the perfect Abba.
Christian fathers have a very high calling indeed!
So true ... the father of our generation were of a different era. A good father was honest, worked very hard to earn money to put food on the table. They were often not seen by the children because they worked so long and so hard. But they deeply loved and cared for their children - I don't think they were ever taught how to show affection. In those days, being stern was the show of love. Sounds odd now, but that is how it was for so many families.
So, we thank God for our fathers, whether they were able to show affection or not, our Father in Heaven shows us His affection every day through His Word, Jesus Christ ... selah.
I have a cousin who is 70 ... last year, in tears, she told me that her father never told her that he loved her ... I knew her father, my uncle, loved her dearly. So I told her so ... here she was at 70 years old asking me, "Do you really think so?" How sad is that ... so I got up and put my arms around her and with the love of the Father, held her, assuring her of the Father's love. Her life changed that day. She was able to forgive her earthly father for he "knew not" what he had done.
This story is repeated so many times, but our Father, our Papa God, is still reaching out to us with His loving arms. Receive His embrace today even now in this moment :-)
His Blessings to you all ...
