Father

Written by Jason Haines

“I will guide you in the way of wisdom and will lead you in upright paths. When you walk your steps will not be hampered, and when you run, you will not stumble.” -Proverbs 4:11-12

So, what does it mean to a good father? Is it buying everything your children want? Is it working several hours in order to provide them all that they need? Is it leaving them a large inheritance, so they never have to work again? Or is it teaching them to be good to others as they would themselves?

Growing up I spent a lot of time at my grandfather’s house and learned many things. Hard work, dedication, but most of all I learned to treat others with dignity and respect. The same goes for my own father, he showed us how to respect others and treat them the way you want to be treated. Now this didn’t always mean that I loved myself, but it helped me grow up to understand that we were not the only people who live in this world and that we must find a way to get along with the others who live with us. This teaching starts through the father who is usually the leader of any family, but today we have a big problem in this world of fatherless families.

Whether it be through men who have left their children, divorce, death, or crime many children today have grown up without their dads in the home and this is not a good place for us to be. No matter what so many people say children need both their parents and both parents serve the roles that a child needs in order to become up standing people of society. I see so many stories on the news and I actually do not listen to a lot of them because I am watching what is going on rather than listening and wonder how many of these people have not had their fathers in the picture. Fathers serve a purpose in every young person’s life and they help to guild their children to the place where the need to be (Notice I said need) and not where they want to be. Giving them the life skills that they need.

Many of us may not have felt that our fathers were what we wanted, but I believe that God put the parents in our lives that we needed. I also believe with divorce and all the other things I do not agree with, that the devil is pulling these fathers that are needed out of the child’s life because he wants to destroy what we had and have. The people who are suffering for it are our children, the most innocent of them all. Children need their fathers and The Father (God) above. If we take the father out usually, they will not find The Father to learn how we must all live together. God put our fathers in our lives because they were who we needed, not what we wanted.

My father may not be perfect, but he is what I needed. My grandfather may not have been perfect, but he is what I needed as well. I may not be perfect for myself or my children, but I am what they need in their life to try and teach them all the things that will help them in the future. I know we all do not have to be perfect because our Father, God, is perfect for all of us, and he will help guide us through any of our troubles. Thank you Father!