Today is Father's Day (or at least that is the date that it is and will be published) and although I could sit here and type words that everyone would find humorous, words that would reflect the many great men and even women who have taken the role as a father, words that would resonate my own appreciation towards my silver-headed pops, I'm not. For me, today is not the day to write those words because, well, I told him yesterday.
So…if you are sitting there, sitting on the other side of the computer, watching your news feed blowup with "thank-you's, my dad is the greatest, best father ever" and you feel something very opposite than that of a sense of gratitude or joy or value. You can't exactly relate to the status', updates, pictures, and posts that are trickling down your news feed or are splattered across the walls and pages in a population of people you are connected with through cyberspace. Perhaps the emotions you have are closer to that of sorrow, disgust, envy, or even complete emptiness.
If I sat here and wrote that I didn't have a father, regardless of the one everyone knows enabled my birth, I'd be lying to you all. You see, it might sound cliché, it might sound annoying, ridiculous, or arrogant but it is anything but unbelievable. In the midst of loss, down the trail of tears, along the crossroads of anger, sadness, and pain; it is not exactly easy for one to accept that of which they have lost, that of which they had to endure, or even that of which they never had at all; a father.
I sit here, thinking…
carefully pressing one
l e t t e r
at a time on my keyboard, trying to find the perfect words to say to the men, the women, and the children who are searching for the reasons for why they lost what they had or for what they didn't think they were ever capable of having at all.
I sit here.
I do not know this pain.
I find myself inexperienced but I am not ignorant.
You see, there is a father who is always here. There is a father who provides, protects, and patiently pursues a relationship with his children. A father who is at
every event,
every recital,
every meet,
every concert,
every game,
and every single extracurricular activity.
A father who accepts you for who you are, pushes you to be better, and who believes in what you can become. A father who understands your dreams, commends your accomplishments, and encourages you to be the best that you can be. A father who does not use words to destruct or fists to bring fear. A father who understands why you do the things you do and still loves you regardless if it's right or wrong. A father who seeks you out, puts forth the effort, and continuously builds an honest relationship on an unbreakable foundation. A father who welcomes you with open arms even after you have gone down the road of devastation, disappointment, and rebellious destruction. A father who abandons the act of abandonment. A father who would willingly give up his own life for his children and did. A father who truly feels the utmost of pain for each of his children and in and through this pain, somehow manages to establish joy, develop peace, and is encompassed in true, eternal, redeeming, unconditional, grace-filled love.
A father who truly knows you.
I hear people say all the time "people need something to believe in."
So… for those of you who are sitting on the other side of your computer screen or on the opposite end of your cell phones, for those of you who have been hurt, disappointed, taken advantage of, or abused by the father you had on this earth; for those of you who have experienced great loss from a father you knew or never knew at all; for those of you who have been searching for someone to take the place of what you do not have; I want you to contemplate, analyze, and perhaps discover that there is a father who is waiting; waiting for you to trust him with your heart, waiting for you to allow him to heal what is left of the one you can give him, and waiting for you to realize that he has been caring for it all along. If there is something that 'we should believe in' wouldn't this be a great place to start?
So, Happy Father's Day to those who weren't, aren't, and never will be, fatherless.
The following is a simple collage of men AND women who have fulfilled the role of being a father. I have had the opportunity to develop friendships with many of these people and want them to know that due to their efforts, enthusiasm, and endurance; I know undoubtedly that our 'father' is more than proud.
Isaiah 41:10 Do not be afraid, for I am with you always.
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