June 23, 2021
June 20th was “Fathers Day”. I called both my sons to affirm them as great dads and they reciprocated. They’re terrific fathers and (so they say!) so am I. Good stuff.
But what about the legions of people out there who don’t have warm feelings about fathers? Abandonment, abuse, neglect, indifference…so many affected by dysfunctional dads. For them it’s a leap of faith to call God their “Heavenly Father”. The word is weighted with negatives. The “love of God”, so easily falling from the lips of many, has no resonance. I have great empathy and admiration, then, for those who make the leap from a hurtful earthly father experience to the embrace of a loving Heavenly Father. It can be done.
This is the beauty of the address in the Lord’s Prayer:”Our Father who art in Heaven…” We might say “Our perfect Father…”. What’s great about this is that He’s our perfect father every day of the year, every year of our lives. He is worthy of our love.
