6-15-26<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some things in life run in parallel tracks. Coincidences, maybe. Mixed blessings, invariably. Like a kid whose birthday is on Christmas Day: convenient for relatives buying presents; tough on the kid whose gift is a \u201ccombination.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This year, D Day celebrations, just passed, are close to Fathers Day, just ahead. And with Memorial Day in the calendar\u2019s neighborhood too, none of us has to stretch our memories and emotions to appreciate the role of fathers in our lives. You dad did not have to die in a war or go ashore on \u201cThe Longest Day\u201d for you to savor the role of fathers in the human family\u2026 nor the role of father-figures assigned to us, going forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Obviously I am addressing men and boys, but the nuclear family \u2013 those duties, responsibilities, and blessings that God has laid out \u2013 are generally universal. Ignoring the liberal halfwits who think they are smarter than God as they think they can better arrange the physical plumbing (so to speak) of peoples\u2019 bodies and minds, we all do have assignments in life.
Back when Theodore Roosevelt was the first major political figure to advocate full voting rights for women, he also warned that \u201cEquality of rights does not suggest equality of functions.\u201d Contemporary America has a way of taking a good idea and hijacking it to absurd extremes, and this curious tendency is the cause of many social tensions. Ignoring the common-sense dictum of TR, or believing that idiots can turn boys into girls on a whim, illustrates my point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In my case (regarding the confluence of holiday observances, not social pathologies) I remember my father who served in World War II, participating in the D Day invasion \u2013 not on the beaches, but overflying the battles in weather reconnaissance flights. Three reasons to remember him during these days\u2026 not that I need special days on a calendar, or promotions by Hallmark Cards. Every time I finish a piece of writing, or give advice to my kids, or discover a new piece of classical music, I have the impulse to wonder what Dad would have thought, or done, or discussed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2026 and it is the same with recollections of my mom. The same impulses, but different contexts: and that is how God designed us: The same love, different expressions.
Yes, the same love, different expressions. That IS God. He is Father of all; \u201cGod is love,\u201d as the Word reminds us \u2013 a definition of God! \u2013 yet an emotion He expresses in 8 billion ways. Even more ways than that, of course. Every creation, every act, every blessing in life is a manifestation of God\u2019s love. Which brings us back to the \u201cconfluence\u201d I mentioned earlier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That is to say, our Father which art in Heaven has a surrogate on earth. Yes, His Son Jesus was God in the flesh come to redeem us from the punishment to which our sins sentence us. But I rather point us to our earthly dads\u2026 and ourselves, in turn, as parents; and how we are to be heads of our households, examples to our families; protectors. We are representations of our Heavenly Father, or should be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Can we be perfect and consistent \u201cimitators\u201d of God as per Ephesians 5:1? Of course not; but we can devote ourselves to that goal. We must<\/em> devote ourselves to that goal. A multitude of Biblical injunctions paint the picture of Godly fathers. To be good and faithful servants is not an option; not even a marching order; but supremely, a privilege.
\u201cHonor thy father and thy mother.\u201d When the cycle of time is due, receive honor too. We teach by example, and we learn by leading. This is God\u2019s way, and worthy of celebration!<\/p>\n\n\n\n