If you have been around Christian music for even a short time (and yes, this is a genre that exists- I’d love to talk to you more about it if it’s new to you), then you have heard the song “Good Good Father”, by Chris Tomlin.
I saw him perform years ago. Pre-hubby, pre-kiddos, with a bunch of friends, in a small amphitheater in Flagstaff, AZ. Chris was just starting to tour and just making his name known. But gosh, was it a great concert. I think there was just something about the night and being under the stars- I felt God’s presence for sure. And oh how God has blessed that man!! He has written amazing music about God and his feelings towards him. And if Mr. Tomlin isn’t your jam, I guarantee if you search you will find a Christian artist who is. This all ties together, pinky swear.
Father’s Day is right around the corner. And I honestly feel that God has been putting the thought in my head that I need to write something about it. Fathers, Father’s Day, all of it.
I put it off, and life naturally got busy. But the feeling kept coming back, so here I type.
Just to be real with you all, I have often had mixed feelings about Father’s Day. Well, just about my dad, and really about the idea of what a “good good father” looks like. I grew up with a father in the home. Right there, I know that I’m fortunate. And, I believe, he did the best he could to be what he thought was a good father. He worked, a lot. He had “blue sky” dreams. He wanted more, and to be better than the Jones’s. And this ultimately consumed him. And one day he decided to leave. He went to live in another state. I was older by that point, which led me to understand and see what had been really going on; a side of him he hid from my mom, my sister, and I. A lot of lies. It was heartbreaking. My father had left. He had let me down. He wasn’t acting like a “good” father.
It’s a story all too common. And my heart breaks for you if you relate to my story. I pray for kiddos without a father. It’s not fair. But it can be life, sometimes.
But my story doesn’t end there. And neither does yours. At this point in my life, God as Father became very real to me. Over time, I began to understand that God IS our “Good, Good, Father” no matter what our situation looks like. And he can also use other men in a fatherly (or even a grandfatherly) role. He has blessed me in that way, and I am truly grateful. I have a husband who is a wonderful father to our kids. My grandfather (who was a redhead) was a wonderful man of God and role model to my sister and me.
I don’t have all the answers. Heck, I don’t have most answers for why things happen in life. But I do know this: God is good, and God heals. He call us to honor our father and mother.
Deuteronomy 5:16
“Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live long and that it may go well with you in the land the Lord your God is giving you.”
Matthew 19:19
“…honor your father and mother,’ and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’”
This can be hard if they are absent, or seem unworthy of honor. But that is what God commands us to do. And believe it or not, I think that it’s really for our benefit, more than theirs. And along with that honor, this Father’s Day, I encourage you to celebrate ALL the men in your life!! Grandfathers, step-fathers, uncles, husbands, cousins, brothers, nephews- may they follow God and learn not only what it means to be a “good good father”, but a good, good man. For that is worthy of celebration!!
Reach out if this resonates with you. I’d love to connect!!
Embrace Life!
