Songs have been written about it; poems have been penned; dances have been danced, celebrating the special bond between father and daughter. I believe that every one of us has an innate longing and desire for that deep relationship with that special man. I have heard that many of us form our view of God by observing our earthly fathers. While that may be true, often, if we look to any human being to form our ideas of our Heavenly Father, we will be deeply disappointed.
The greatest gift my earthly father gave me was to point me to my Heavenly Father. The greatest gift I can give my father for Father’s Day is to live my life for the One who gave His life for me.
From the womb, I was in church at least three times a week and in every children’s club the church had to offer, hearing Bible stories and memorizing scripture. Sadly, too often, my early childhood memories of going through the motions of playing church bring with them anxiety and sometimes a bit of panic. I wasn’t good at remembering my Sunday school papers or saying my memory verse on demand. This led to unwarranted and unreasonable punishment. In hindsight, my dad was probably more worried that I would embarrass him, or he was worried that someone would think he was not doing his job as a father properly if I did not perform as the “good girl” I needed to be.
Miraculously, the Holy Spirit instilled a desire deep in my heart to love the Father and form an innocent and pure relationship that superseded any earthly or fallible human relationship. Long before I took my shiny patent leather shoes down the isle in children’s church and prayed with Mrs. Katie Tunnel to give my heart to Jesus, I understood that God loved me, that He created the world for me, and that because of our own bad choices that world needed a savior. I knew that I needed someone bigger than this world to be my daddy. So, on that Easter Sunday in 1969, when Mrs. Tunnel asked who wanted Jesus to be their Savior, I marched my timid, shy self to the front of the room, wondering why nobody else wanted this precious gift. I knew about the death, burial, and resurrection. I definitely knew about sin. I even knew how to pray “Dear Heavenly Father.” But that day, He became my Daddy. And He is a “Good Good Father”
So nice. Our Abba Father. A perfect Dad❤️
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