Proverbs 23:13-14

Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you strike him with a rod, he will not die.  ¹⁴ If you strike him with the rod, you will save his soul from Sheol.

Happy Father’s  Day!  For many this day is a great time of celebration.  It is a day to celebrate Dad and all that he is.  Dad – the man who taught us how to ride a bike, who protected us when we were scared, who comforted us when we were hurt.  He is the one we go to for advice and encouragement.  Dad is also the one who put a little fear in us to keep us from misbehaving.  Did you ever hear, “just wait until your father gets home!”?

For others this is a day of sadness and anger or maybe it’s just a day like any other day.  For some their Dad’s didn’t live up to the responsibility.  Maybe they left and Mom had to be “Mom and Dad.”  Maybe they were around, but didn’t really do anything but read the paper and yell.  Maybe they were abusive and you wished they would just leave.  For some, Father’s day can bring up “a bunch of junk” that they’d rather forget.

For those who had a great Dad, it’s easy to correlate that relationship with their relationship with our Heavenly Father.  To see God as loving, warm, and caring is easy.  It’s easy to understand loving correction.  For those who didn’t have a great Dad, sometimes it’s a challenge to understand that God is not the judge in the sky ready to strike you down; it’s tough to realize that God is the perfect Dad they always dreamed of.

This Father’s Day we celebrate the men in our lives that have impacted and continue to impact our lives.  No matter the experience we had, we are changed because of it.  But we also celebrate our Heavenly Father – the perfect Father who will never let us down, who will love us no matter what, and who offers correcting in a loving manner and for the purpose of helping us to grow – not cutting us down.

I’m praying for you!

Pastor Amy