“my Father will love them, and we will come to them, and make our home with them.”

  John 14:23

so i am sitting on an airplane watching two fathers with their babies.

yes.  FATHERS.

the mothers are snoozing, and it’s the fathers who are embracing their little ones.  stroking their hair.  soothing them.  feeding them.  whispering over them.

it is precious.

fathers get a bum rap too often these days.

it’s not fair.

there are lots of good fathers out there.

more than we realize.

at my school, many dads are stepping up.

they bring special lunches to their children.  they send in money for field trips.  they come to parties.  they sign homework folders.  they text the teacher to check on behavior.  they request conferences.  they volunteer on field day.  they dress up as santa.  they send emails and come to PTO performances.

we need to affirm these fathers.  for their very valuable contributions.

they are swimming upstream.

the world isn’t for them right now.

the world is wrong.

i lost my dad at age 10.  he checked out voluntarily.  i didn’t understand then, but i get it now.  and i forgive him.

i have a few sweet memories of my dad.

the day he brought home a puppy for the three of us.  the way he raked the leaves into a huge pile so we could jump in them.  walking on the beach behind him, embarrassed because he was wearing bermuda shorts, black socks, and dress shoes.  the yellow legal pads spread out on the dining room table (the work of an accountant is never done.)

i don’t remember much more before the age of 10.  they say childhood trauma kind of arrests you emotionally.  can erase some of your memories.  i guess that’s what happened.  but i do have those few to call my own.

psalm 27 says, “my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the Lord will take me up.”

i’ve experienced that.  i have.

by the time i was 30, i had no parents.  no children.

and my husband was on the way out the door.

so God, who had already become my Father, became my husband.

became my children.

it was a bittersweet season.

i want to encourage you, if you’ve suffered a deficiency…

if your father was unavailable in any way…

God waits.

God longs.

God exists.

to be your good, good Father.

the father who will soothe you.

embrace you.

feed you.

speak His word over you.

let Him.

let Him embrace you.

let Him feed you.

let Him speak His word over you.

let Him be your good, good Father.