In Praise of Fathers

 

Dads are amazing, stabilizing forces of strength in their families.

Often, just their presence keeps unruly kids in line.

But, strength isn’t their only attribute.

The vast majority of fathers are self-sacrificing, loving, and devoted.

They seem to know intuitively what is a big deal–what is not–and teach us to shrug off the latter and pay strong attention to the former.

At their best, our earthly fathers give us a glimpse of our heavenly Father–but only a glimpse.

And yet, that glimpse is life changing.

According to fathers.com, children of father-absent homes are almost four times more likely to be poor. Children living in female-headed families with no spouse present had a poverty rate of 47.6%. Children of single-parent homes are more than twice as likely to commit suicide. Children born to single mothers show higher levels of aggressive behavior than children born to married mothers. 71% of high school dropouts are fatherless. And there are many more such negative statistics.

The solution is to have strong fathers in the homes. And, if that is not possible, to have strong father figures in these children’s lives.

The good news is that we all have a heavenly father who loves us and always has His arms open to us.

He is perfect, will never leave us, and is always available.

Strong, just, and good, He is the Father we all need and all desire.