“Father in Heaven Father on Earth Thank you for Giving me birth.”
If you don’t recognize these lines from a poem, that’s understandable as I didn’t either, seeing as how I just wrote them while coming out of a Fresh Market store, as I contemplated writing this cover story on Father’s Day.
In the Judeo-Christian tradition, we have an Almighty Father. In Christianity we have religious leaders called Fathers. All of us, whether spiritual, atheist, or agnostic, have a father – even if we never met him. Perhaps he died before we were born, perhaps he left when we were babies, or maybe he just offered up genetic material in a sperm bank – regardless, he gave us his DNA code. And that provided us with the talents and skills that hopefully we have used in this lifetime to make a contribution to the world and gain a livelihood in the process.
As I Googled quotations about fathers, I came across some real beauties. Some inspirational, some funny, some touching. Here’s one I like: “No music is so pleasant to my ears as that word – father.” That’s from Lydia Maria Child. How interesting that the woman who wrote this quote sports the last name Child. Each of us is a child, even though many of us have children or even grandchildren of our own. And since we are children, we all have fathers.
Fanny Fern said it beautifully: “To her, the name of father was another name for love.” The brilliant comic mind of Steve Martin put it playfully, “A father carries pictures where his money used to be.” And those photos, of course, are of his children. Then there’s this thought-provoking quote by Unknown who, along with Anon, has given the world so many beautiful sayings: “Dads are most ordinary men turned by love into heroes, adventurers, storytellers and singers of song.”
Dads for millennia have gone out into the world, out from their caves, out from their frontier homes, out from their urban skyscraper apartments, out from their country club houses into the world to do battle, to fight foes, to right wrongs. And to bring home the bacon. Or for those who keep kosher, perhaps whitefish salad. And for those who are vegetarians, maybe tofu. They do this to protect us, to provide for us, to care for us, because they have loved us.
Google the question, “What do fathers do?” and you’ll get this reply:
“Fathers, like mothers, are pillars in the development of a child’s emotional well-being. Children look to their fathers to lay down the rules and enforce them. They also look to their fathers to provide a feeling of security, both physical and emotional.”
While mothers typically do a better job of nurturing children and providing them with a deep feeling of being loved than their husbands do, fathers often excel at teaching their kids the way the world works. Love from mom and laws from dad, not unlike the essence of the New Testament and the Old themselves, respectively. Across all cultures, fathers typically have protected, provided, and disciplined. Without this sense of safety, children cannot blossom. Without being provided for, few little ones can make it in the world. And without discipline it’s difficult for any offspring of any family to progress in their chosen career. Discipline creates the habits that lead to success. And fathers teach their children this great lesson. This is the gift of most fathers.
But that’s not all. Fathers motivate, they enforce, they encourage, they train, they counsel, they teach, and they lead. They inspire their kids in their quest to develop and grow in their careers. They enforce rules so that their progeny can realize that there are consequences to their actions, especially when rules and laws are transgressed. Learning this in the cocoon of the family keeps them much safer than if they wind up breaking laws later on when they’re adults. Encouragement keeps kids moving forward with confidence. And training and counseling allows for the molding of youth into a more successful adult. Teaching is among the father’s most important gifts to his child. To help show the way – whatever way a child may lead – to prevent his offspring from going wayward.
And leading… what child doesn’t profit from being led to his or her goal?
Those with a religious bent perhaps go even further in honoring the father on Father’s Day, as one of the Ten Commandments puts it: “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.” (Exodus 20:12). Such folks might also honor their ultimate father – the Father in Heaven. For as they see it, He provides the air that we breathe through our lungs and beats the hearts in our chests to keep us alive. And whispers inspirations to us to give us ideas on how to make it in our world.
