Supposedly, this ad once ran in a newspaper: “For quick sale, one new set of encyclopedias. Reason for sale? Have two teenage children who know everything!”
As children answer God’s call into adulthood they often test the lessons and truths they receive from their parents. Sometimes it seems that anyone else is right but their parents! But with the responsibilities of adulthood, and starting a new family of their own, wisdom starts to emerge. Maybe Dad and Mom were right about all those things after all!
It’s also the same process with faith. In childhood God was the explanation for everything. In adolescence and early adulthood God often ends up to be very distant and on the fringes. Sometimes He is pushed so far to the fringe He never finds a way back! Our fathers are at their best when they model their parenting on God the Father – creative and nurturing, protective and providing, forgiving and encouraging.
Today we thank the Father of us all for the fathers and grandfathers and other men He gave us and placed in our lives as parents and guardians. We ask God to help us to be gentle with them as they grow older and ask God to embrace the ones who have left us and be good to them. We thank them and pray for them on this Father’s Day!