How are you remembering Father's Day?
Everyone has a father and a corresponding story
because of the man we call dad. For some it is a blissful story of excited
recall of pleasant memories but for others a painful recollection of hurts
and sorrows. Often, whether it is a positive or negative memory can be summoned
up in the fact that your dad was either "for you" or "for
himself." But why was the man we call dad who he was? It all comes
down to character expression, good or evil. So what made dad who he was and
then how should we remember him or Father’s Day? Is Father’s Day a "report card
of performance" or a day of grace? Do you view your dad on Father’s Day based on
his performance of character expression and how good he was or wasn't toward you? How
should "Father’s Day" be remembered? Is it based solely on the
positive or negative memories of the man we call dad? Regardless of how flawed
or flawless the man we call father was or is, Father’s Day can and should be a
day of remembering the heritage that our Heavenly Father has given to all of
us. Father's Day is a day of grace. No man has the ability to be a loving
dad apart from a relationship with his Heavenly Father.
Pictured
Four generations of Burzynski, left to right, Don, Ralph, Blake and Donald.
All true fathers have
learned what it means to be called dad by encountering an intimate relationship
with Abba (daddy) Father. HE, not our talents, not our effects, not our
successes or failures, not our unique journey or story becomes our heritage and
legacy as we choose to embrace His love for us. Fatherhood as God designed
is the "outlived life" of our Abba Father. As we take His lead and
allow for His graceful character expression to be manifest through us then and
only then can we be the fathers God intended us to be. As you celebrate Father’s
Day honoring your dad or laminating the father you never had, never lose sight
of your FATHER. How are you remembering Father’s Day? Today is a day of
Grace. You are loved with an everlasting love of your Father. "Look around you: Everything you see is
God’s—the heavens above and beyond, the Earth, and everything on it. But it was
your ancestors who God fell in love with; he picked their children—that’s
you!—out of all the other peoples. That’s where we are right now. So cut away
the thick calluses from your heart and stop being so willfully hardheaded. God,
your God, is the God of all gods, he’s the Master of all masters, a God immense
and powerful and awesome. He doesn’t play favorites, takes no bribes, makes
sure orphans and widows are treated fairly, takes loving care of foreigners by
seeing that they get food and clothing" The Message Bible
Deuteronomy 10:14-18.
Don Burzynski is the Director of CrossLife
Counseling in Vero Beach, Florida and is the father of eight children and four grandchildren. www.cross-life.org
