Fathers...Who Needs Them?

Let's be honest. When it comes to the holidays we celebrate in this country, one in particular ranks fairly low on the holiday ladder. I mean Halloween, Easter, July 4th, Memorial Day and others in many ways garner more attention... and dollars spent. Now give Hallmark its due. There is a dollar to be made with this holiday so I guess that's good as we strive to turn our economy around...(wink)

I would contend that a particular national holiday needs to leapfrog many of our current U.S. holidays and dare I say challenge Christmas for that top spot. Keep in mind when God sent down the 10 Commandments with Moses there was nothing about observing Christmas in them. Not a word. BUT there were instructions about FATHERS. There it is in Commandment #5..."Honor your father...." I read all Ten and found nothing about Christmas...which most people in some way spend time and money on and will tell you its the most important holiday. Not to...well...even if you go into debt...you just do celebrate Christmas. Duh. We measure the economy of the greatest nation on earth by how many dollars are spent at Christmas to determine if we had a 'good holiday season'. I'm not here to bash Christmas. Although I do have some opinions if you'd ever care to hear them.

Next Sunday could well be the most important holiday of the year...Father's Day. If you look at Father's Day from a scriptural perspective, I can build a bullet proof case for Fathers over mangers, wise men, gifts and cute adorable children..(mine once)...dressed as angels.

I can build a huge case for the need and support of fathers in today's society. Who cares if a kid gets presents at Christmas if there is no father or even a male figure in that child's life! Many of our issues with children, young people, and even young adults stem from the fact that there are NO fathers involved. When did this society dumb-down the importance of fathers. The need of fathers crosses all social and economic landscapes. From poor neighborhoods, to the guy in the corporate boardroom, to the man maybe sitting in church, they all need to step up to the plate and fulfill their roles as fathers.
Sadly a good deal of men don't recognize the role of being a father. Simply being a 'donor' to an egg to create a human being is not being a father! That is at its best just fulfilling a biological step in making a baby. And oh, for men today, please understand that an infant grows into a child, then an adolescent, then a teenager, young adult, a grown up adult, and maybe someday a father themselves.
So who needs fathers? Well their children do. The mothers of their children do. Our schools do. The churches they may attend do. Our places of business do. Country clubs do. Government does. Little League teams do. Children's clubs do. I mean really we need fathers everywhere we turn.

In 2010, I would guess we have less fathers then we did 20 years ago. Oh sure we have more children, but less fathers. The need for loving, competent, interested, time-giving fathers may well be at a critical stage in our country. Mothers have been bailing fathers out for too long attempting to fulfill both roles. In my opinion, Moms were never meant to do both...they're just capable of pulling it off sometimes. But even Moms have limits.

So here comes Father's Day on June 20th. I have a father who is 81 years old and as I've gotten older I'm amazed at how smart he has become! I'm not sure my father graduated from High School. I know he's a decorated Korean War veteran spending 4 years in the Navy. I know he was gone for weeks at a time when he worked as a fireman for the Chicago Northwestern Railroad. I know when he worked for the local factory and it went on strike, my father picked up a job with a survey crew to earn some extra dollars for food. My Dad held the stick that the other guy looks at through his scope. Dad said they called it the "idiot stick."
I know that when my dad faced the challenges of drinking he got help and has mentored countless others throughout the years. And I will always remember watching my father hold my mother's hand the last hours of her life as she slipped away from him. My father was not perfect and he would tell you so himself. But I do know this. He worked at being a father...he learned about being a father...he taught me about the cost of being a father, and without his example, both good and bad, I'd be less of a father today.

The other day in an elevator, a woman turned to another and said, "Oh my gosh its June already and I need to start thinking about Christmas gifts." Ugh
Maybe some of us can spend more time thinking and planning and promoting strong, loving, involved fathers for our children. That would be the best gift ever!