Spirit of Fatherhood

Just a quick thought for all the men out there on this most illustrious of annual celebrations, Father’s Day. Hope you enjoyed your tie.

That the true disease of America is a deficiency of fathers has been declared by all sorts of folk. The spirit of the nation pines for a father and this is true both physically and spiritually. Men abandon families like a foundering ship or are convinced that their job is superfluous, sinc women are their equals in everything. Unbounded chaos in our country has a central cause and that is lack of fathers, which is indicative of our true spiritual state in that we reject our heavenly Father.

And to make matters worse, just because there is a male present in a household, and that particular male may have contributed his seed to make an offspring which is also residing in that household, does not necessarily make him a father in the sense God intends. If you have conversations with anyone, anyone at all, or watch the kind of pig’s breakfast served up on social media, you can see the lack of fathers and the rejection of the Father has a similar presentation.

So when I talk to others, particularly the younger generations, I try to adopt a spirit of fatherliness. This means I position myself to be able to take their ire, frustration, anger and vitriol, as well as their pain and sadness, with the steady calm and attention that a good father would have towards his children.

Now this can sound magnanimous and pretentious. In fact, it can sound down right douchey. But if what is truly lacking is a fatherly example that reflects the heart and disposition of our heavenly Father, what other position ought a man in the Lord take towards his relationships?

Practically, this means when having a conversation with someone on a hot topic, and they get angry, to be prepared to absorb and accept the accusations and pain without getting defensive, seeing the real ache of fatherlessness behind the barred teeth.

As a warning, when taking the disposition of fatherliness you must be prepared to have the anger that comes from fatherlessness levelled at you. You, as a man, are literally the patriarchy, and will receive the recompense of the stored anger.

But this is precisely what is needed. A fatherless nation, at the heart, does not need a tit for every tat, it does not need to be DESTROYED with FACTS and LOGIC, nor does it need the reticence and stoicism of a cold, hard priest. It needs to be pursued and embraced with the quiet strength of fatherhood, even if those fathers aren’t their own.