When the
young man came home, humbled and beaten down, he hoped to find a father who
would just allow him to work as a servant and be given nothing more than a
place to rest his head and enough food to stop the hunger pains. He sought a
father who would see past his failures and accept him once more if only as a
servant. He discovered more than he could have ever dreamed. (Luke 15)
The other
side of the coin is found in a divine voice coming from the heavens that said,
“This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:17, RSV) A
Father was made proud by his Son. It was a pride that found its fullest expression
on a Sunday morning when divine power intervened and conquered death to bring
that Son back to life in a resurrected body. (Luke 24)
Pride in a
father goes two ways. You can be proud of your father and how he responds to
your needs. You can also be proud to be a father because of the choices you see
your children make. One looks to the generation that has gone before. The other
perspective is a reflection on the generation to come. Blessed indeed is the
family in which fatherhood is admired and draws forth pride across multiple
generations.
Fatherhood
that draws forth pride is marked both by vision and by example. To read the eleventh
chapter of Hosea is to hear the heart of a Father grieving over his children.
On one side his holy righteousness demands an accounting for rebellion and
idolatry. On the other his holy love cannot allow his children to suffer any
further regardless of what they may deserve.
A father
sets the example for his children to follow by being the kind of son of which
his own father would be proud. Some sons have never known their father. Some
sons could never be honest and say they were ever proud of their fathers. That,
however, does not keep them from living lives that exemplify the life of a son
for whom a father could be proud.
Fathers must
live in such a way as to make their children proud to have those men as their
fathers. Fathers must also live in such a way as to leave that unmistakable
example that a child would be proud to emulate. “I am proud that he is my
father. I am proud to be like my father.”
You cannot
be that kind of person one day a year. Fatherhood is limited neither to a
biological act nor a one-day-each-year celebration. Fatherhood is a personal
sense of relationship that is in the mind of a man twenty-four hours a day and
in his actions whether he is with his children or not. This sense of
relationship moves a man from being simply a progenitor into a unique role. As
I have often been reminded, any healthy male can be a father. It takes a
special man to be a daddy.
On my desk
sits a hinged picture frame. On the right hand side is a photo now more than
twenty-five years old of two little boys. On the left hand side is a statement.
“A truly rich man is one whose children will run into his arms when his hands
are empty.”
I am proud
of the example my father set for me as I was growing up. I have sought to make
my father proud of me. I have sought to make my sons proud of me as well. I
know I am proud of them. They make Father’s Day for me out of every day of the
year.
