Father’s Day – the day we buy cards for the men in our lives whom we love and adore. Or perhaps we have a big cookout to celebrate that guy who has fixed broken toys, played baseball in the backyard, and baited hooks for kids to fish. Fathers – they are superheroes in the flesh.
For some, Father’s Day is difficult. Perhaps, you lost your father recently. Perhaps, there is a family rift that prevents any kind of celebration. Maybe you live a great distance from family and going home is not an option. Maybe your father was never around. The truth is that Father’s Day is not a delightful day for everyone.
Every dad was not a superhero. All of us do not have sweet, flowery stories of the great fathers who raised us. I would be in that category. My siblings and I were raised by an abusive, controlling, cursing man. It really was a case that if he said to jump, we asked, “How high!” All eight of us children were candidates for a miserable adulthood. The statistics are not pretty.
My story was totally rewritten after following my heavenly Father. My transformation did not all happen overnight, but it happened. I gave my life to Jesus Christ and began the path of following Him in 1969. I married a man who was raised by a wonderful father, and in 1971 we began a journey together. I was ill-prepared for that journey but thank God that man was patient with me, and realized I was a wounded soul. That man, Gaylon Benton, is an incredible father for our children. Though our sons are grown with families of their own, their dad still loves them fiercely.
Happy Father’s Day to Gaylon Benton who raised three fine men who all are good husbands and fathers. Stephen and Michael are wonderful, hard-working, loving fathers. Though Bryan never got to lay eyes on Tucker, he was excited beyond words about the reality of becoming a father to a son. (I am not sure Bryan can look down from heaven and see Tucker, but if not, I hope God will tell him that Tucker is his “mini me.”)
No, not everyone had a superhero dad. What if this Father’s Day we give ourselves a gift? What if we lay down disappointment at the foot of the cross? What if this Father’s Day we step into the promises of our Heavenly Father? If I allowed myself to focus on the storybook versions of Father’s Day, it would indeed be a difficult day. I just came to testify to my heavenly Father’s goodness! I choose to focus on the life Father has given me and what a blessed life that is! He is a good, good Father!
“See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are.” 1 John 3:1