Man Up, Boys

A Father’s Day Guest Post by my Wife (It’s a little personal but I like it. So forgive me. I didn’t write it. … And remember, if you are going to be a man don’t blame someone else for stuff.)

Who is teaching our boys of today to be the men of tomorrow?

Social media is splattered with pithy statements of “Just because you are a male it doesn’t make you a man.”

My heart is heavy as I look around our community and realize there are an astronomical number of homes with out a dad these days and so many little ones never know who their “real “ daddy is. Of course, many times when there is a dad present in the home he is often an absentee member of the family for a myriad of reasons…Fatherhood by proxy. There is quite a difference between donorship and ownership; isn’t there?

My heart especially aches for the precious little ones that never experienced the strength and comfort of their daddy’s hand folding around theirs because their mother made a choice. Created in His image and just discarded like common waste. It gives a new and heartsick meaning to one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. Oh, what precious precious treasures. Yet, there is a certain comfort knowing that God promised when your father and mother forsake you, the Lord will take you up.

Some fathers, whether in life or death, are promoted to a convoluted form of sainthood. Sometimes because they are missed and memories fade (at least the bad ones) and there is an insatiable need to hold on to the hope that they are in a better place whether they are or not. Sometimes they want what they never had or maybe don’t want to lose what good they did have. Nevertheless, many fathers near Father’s Day achieve merit second only to Superman.

What about my Daddy, you ask? When he passed away there was one word that was reoccurring: Faithful. I know now that was the word he planned on ringing into eternity. Oh, he had a cause for which to be faithful. Faithful to what or to whom? His friends? His work? His church? His child? His wife? The one and only God? Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, and above all YES! He wasn’t perfect and he never claimed to be. He rested, he functioned, he thrived in the knowledge that he was a poor undeserving sinner snatched up in his Father’s grasp of grace. He taught me what my Heavenly Father looks like—His essence, attributes and character. He opened his heart wide to a little girl that needed the comfort and protection of a home; he provided himself as the example of unconditional love and the longevity and permanency of adoption. That proved useful as I began to appreciate my relationship with God as one of His children. He taught me the power and the patience of prayer. He taught me who my husband would be years before I ever met him … Ironic how they are similar in so many ways. Father’s Day is a celebration but not because of who they are but because of who they are in Christ and what He has done!

As I am writing, my “little man” of 7 years is next door doing yard work for our 80 something-year-old neighbor lady. He wasn’t asked. He wasn’t told. He just offered to help because…well, just because…just because he has witnessed his Daddy countless times help, fix, serve, and honor others without expecting seeking, or even wanting anything in return. I guess you could say, being a man is becoming a family tradition.

We are raising our boys to be husbands one day and ultimately fathers, if God so chooses. And someone out there is undoubtedly raising a little boy that one day will marry our little girl. (A thought that my husband might not want to process yet).

So, please teach your little fella to love God and serve Him with everything that he has; teach him to love his wife as Christ loved the church.

Teach him to be a MAN…a man after God’s own heart! Because we are teaching her to wait for that man.