Words of Hope: The Need of a Good Father
Last night, our family attended a beautiful event combining the discussion of leadership and dance. This teaching was presented by a father/son duo. Shann and I were touched by this father and son’s true devotion to one another. The son was full of life, courage, hope, and resilience. This to me is the gift of a good father. I meet so many people who didn’t have a father or who had a dad who was emotionally absent or physically abusive, or just a relational dud. How much of their inward pain, fear or struggle came from an absent or loveless Dad?
My mom and dad had troubled fathers. They had to overcome so much more than I did. I see this in Shann. He loves his dad now, but I cry to think what an incredibly lonely and loveless home he had as a boy. He said his home was so often filled with feelings of fear and abandonment. Shann deserved a deeply loving home. He deserved a dad to play with, to encourage him, to hold him and speak peace and joy over him. I think of all the children in the world who deserve a father like this, a father like I had.
How much suffering could be eradicated by a present, loving, tenderly compassionate Dad? The pair last night deferred to each other, they laughed together, they moved on the stage arm in arm together. The son needed the father to provide rigor and scholarship to his talk. The father needed the son to provide energy, story, and passion. This tandem team built something remarkable for us to learn from. I pray for more fathers to arise. Fathers who love their children in meaningful and transformational ways. I pray those raised without fathers, or without GOOD fathers, can lean into the most wonderful Father and find joy in His presence.
“And I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty.” -2 Corinthians 6:18
