Recently I celebrated the 80th birthday of a woman of God, who, even though she is not a blood relation of mine
(at least not natural blood) had become a spiritual mother to me.
This relationship did not begin with the expectation of finding a “mother” or even knowing that
I desperately needed what she carried.
As I thought about all that she had imparted to me,
I began to think of my role as a father to my three daughters,
each of them separated by ten years or more that marked tremendous differences in who I was.
My oldest daughter came unexpectedly, born when I was barely a man, 23 years old,
a self absorbed and deeply wounded atheist.
Eleven years later my second daughter would be born,
and by then I was a believer and remarried to a godly woman.
Another eleven years passed and we welcomed another daughter, our last into our lives.
I wish I could say otherwise, but what was imparted to these three girls was not equal.
It would be untruthful if I said that I didn’t have many regrets for my shortcomings as a father,
especially with my oldest daughter…but my wishing I could go back and change things accomplishes nothing.
Parenthood- being a father or mother- is the most important, difficult and rewarding of life roles.
Two essential ingredients of parenthood are four letter words: love and time.
There are no amount of gifts or material possessions that can compensate for being an absentee father or mother.
We live in a culture that gauges success by how much stuff we accumulate,
many families allow themselves to fall into tremendous debt to keep up with “the Joneses”,
their peers who are often equally in debt trying to keep up appearances themselves.
If you are working in a job position, a profession that keeps you on the road frequently,
and you are away from your home and children,
I suggest you get another job/career so that you can fulfill your number one calling:
being a dad or mom because your children need you desperately.
That job may wait for you or not, but the time you have to pour into your children’s lives is finite and irreplaceable.
There is no “owner’s manual” for raising a child, but there is one for being a father and/or a mother, the Bible.
We live in a world where neither parents nor the children actually know who they are;
Identity, vision, and destiny are part of the essential package that a parent should strive to pass to sons and daughters.
Yeshua said, ” I only do the things I saw my Father in heaven do.” (Paraphrased John 5:19)
As a father, I am now mindful that children closely watch their parents’ actions closely-
if we live out what we say we believe; in other words do we “walk the talk”?
Fathers and mothers-beloved-today, remind your sons and daughters who they are – world changers and history makers,
and help prepare them in turn to be fathers and mothers.