IF you missed my post last month, I admit I did not write. I had a bad fall, was in the hospital 2 weeks BUT I am healed and back with you. HALLELUJAH!
"Remembering Daddy"
I remember when I was a little girl and I wondered why they called it "Father's Day". I called my father Daddy, and loved that! To me, Daddy meant someone who loved me, hugged me, read the Sunday comics to me while sitting on the sofa with me on one side and my brother, Donald, on the other side with Daddy in the middle. Father's Day sounded so formal to me . Slowly as I grew up I began to realize that was the typical way a lot of fathers and sons and daughters thought of each other. I am so glad in our family we were warm and cuddly!
I'll admit I accepted the formal mention of "Father's Day" in our culture but never accepted it personally. I was fortunate to have a Daddy who was so proud of me when I was singing professionally as a mezzo-soprano soloist all over the US and Canada that he told his friends buttons popped off his shirt. Yes, Daddy was very proud of me and I'll never forget that.
As we celebrate "Father's Day" this week, How do we think about Dads? Have you had a healthy, warm relationship with your father? Dads are so important to us. When you think about it, when we were growing up, Dads supplied our household money to live on. Most of us, at that time were not working mothers. We stayed home and raised our children and Daddy was the one who commuted to work every day. Remember that time? Of course I remember not just sitting in the house all day, but getting my own projects done. Yes, mothers were very busy, actively contributing to improvements in the way we lived.
But I remember well also living close to our monthly budget. One day, our son Glenn, came to me and reported how he desperately needed a new pair of sneakers. I checked in the 'clothing' envelope......EMPTY. So I told Glenn he would have to wait for Dad's next paycheck. After I left Glenn checked other budget envelopes. "Mom, there's money in the church envelope!" An interesting conversation developed over "tithing".....what a great opportunity to teach!
How did Father's Day start? The idea first appeared in the early 1900s but never caught on until Lyndon Baines Johnson's presidential term. Amazing how long it took for the USA to realize fathers were important like mothers. I do remember that first Father's Day. No particular excitement but it seemed people were glad to see 'fathers' were at last recognized.
Now maybe you did not have a loving father like I did and you find it difficult in these days of loving fathers to love your father. Unfortunately there are many people who walk around with bad feelings about their dads. In fact as I talk deeply to friends I'm amazed how many instances of bad feelings there are in families. What do we do with those feelings? Just push them aside and try to forget them, which we never seem able to do? Or do we reach out and forgive?
Forgiveness is difficult because it causes us to accept the 'words' that were spoken to us in jealousy or meanness and that hursts us. But forgiveness is vitally important to us. If we don't forgive, the bitterness stays with us. Many times we seek to forgive but receive ugly words and no forgiveness and understanding from the other side. I have found forgiveness is so important to me because when I forgive, my bitterness disappears. Several years ago I reached out to a relative who had been mean to me. The man was dying but I knew I had to say something of forgiveness. So there he was on his deathbed and I told him I forgave him. I told him with loving words that he was forgiven. The relief that engulfed me was overwhelming. Don't hesitate to forgive. You will be doing the Lord's work and discover what forgiveness really means.
