I’ve rewritten this post several times. Version one started out neat, clean, safe, in other words, artificial. I scraped it.
I don’t like Father’s Day.
When I was a child, Father’s Day drove home the point that my dad and I had very little to do with each other. Father’s Day now serves as a dubious reminder that I feel like a cross between a little boy still longing to have a daddy, and a middle aged man wondering why I was never a father. Father’s Day screams “you don’t fit, you don’t belong”.
I believe “father” is one of the highest callings a man can receive.
I’m truly glad that my church honors fathers. This year the pastor had all the dads stand to receive deserved applause. He showed a video clip, which acknowledged that men (like me) who have no children still have influence. His sermon was practical for all. The service was exactly what it needed to be; a time of honoring and encouraging dads. But the repeated use of the words “father” and “husband” felt like a barrier keeping me on the outside and watching, rather than belonging.
My Father spoke to me, on Father’s Day.
At the close of the service, the worship leader led us in singing Chris Tomlin’s “Amazing Grace (My Chains are Gone)”. I was struggling to enter into the singing when God spoke three comforting words to me, “I see you”.
Children are created with the innate need to know that their daddy sees them. Watching children show off and perform to capture their father’s eye proves this point. Those children who are consistently ignored by their father are at a grave risk of never knowing their all-important identity as sons and daughters.
Feeling invisible in the very eyes of the one who fathered them is a rejection that no child (or adult) can adequately describe. That is the rejection God was dealing with as He spoke “I see you”.
Our true Father is never ashamed to acknowledge His children.
God modeled this as He proclaimed over Jesus “You are My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.” (Mark 1:11) And this Father’s Day, this same Father, who proudly claimed Jesus as His Son, reminded me that He sees me and loves me as I am. Even when I battle feeling as though I am less than other men, He’s not ashamed to identify me as His son. He values me simply because I am His.
Father’s Day is over for this year. And maybe its selfish for me to admit that I’m glad. But the reminder that I am seen by my loving heavenly Father will outlast the struggle of this one day.
The same is true for you. As you’ve read, I believe you’ve heard these tender words from your Father spoken to your own heart, “I see you“. And, as the lyric’s of “Amazing Grace” say,
The Lord has promised good to me
His word my hope secures
He will my shield and portion be
As long as life endures
(verse lyrics by John Newton)
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