A Letter and Prayer on Father's Day
We all approach Father’s Day from a different place. Some of you have fathers who are still living, while some of you have father’s who have left this earth and who are dearly missed. We thank God for the legacy of loving fathers.
Some of you do not know your father or have difficult relationships with them. We thank God for being the perfect Father when our earthly fathers let us down.
Some of you are currently fathers, sacrificing daily to take care of your children’s physical, spiritual, and emotional needs. We thank God for modeling through you what it is to be a good father.
Some of you have taken on another’s child through foster and adoption, both formally or informally. We thank God for demonstrating in you what it is to love someone beyond biological ties.
Some of you are fathers who have lost a child or have been unable to conceive a child. We thank God for you who carry heavy burdens of loss, and pain, and desire - may you be comforted in their mourning.
Thank you, God, for giving us all of the men in our community who love, nurture, care, support, and guide their families and this community.
In God’s goodness, He gave himself the name of “Father”, “Abba”, to describe to his people the relationship He would have with them.
When our earthly fathers are absent through death or choice, our Heavenly Father is there to fill the void.
When our earthly fathers disappoint or let us down, our Heavenly Father models for us what a good dad does.
When our earthly fathers, in their going and coming, seek to know how to parent their children well, God has spoken through the scriptures what a good, good father looks like.
When we are burdened for hurting and orphaned children, God shows us what it is to bring the orphaned into communion with a loving father.
When Abraham and Isaac and Elkanah and Manoah and Zachariah all experienced loss or infertility in the Scriptures, we see a God who knew the desires of their hearts - He SAW them all; they were important, and loved, and God was moved to meet them in their mourning.
We see God give spiritual fathers to his Church again, and again, and again, and because of that, we know that any man can be a spiritual father to his brothers and sisters in Christ. We thank God this Father’s Day for the parental attributes that He uses to shower love on us, His children, and to model for us, as parents and fathers.
To all fathers, thank you for your sacrifices of time and resources. Thank you for loving your children- whatever those children may look like - biological, fostered, or spiritual.
As an encouragement to all the fathers out there - know that your Heavenly Father is the best Father. There is only one perfect father, and I hope that gives you some comfort. The best fathers are the ones who look to God and do their best to emulate Him; to learn to be a good father, get to know your Heavenly Father well.
Emily Thien is a part of the community at Common Ground Northeast. She is a wife and the mother of 4 boys. She loves working with women and has a heart to see them become spiritually competent and confident in theology, scripture, and biblical community.
