Proverbs 4:20-27
“20 My son, pay attention to what I say;
turn your ear to my words.
21 Do not let them out of your sight,
keep them within your heart;
22 for they are life to those who find them
and health to one’s whole body.
23 Above all else, guard your heart,
for everything you do flows from it.
24 Keep your mouth free of perversity;
keep corrupt talk far from your lips.
25Let your eyes look straight ahead;
fix your gaze directly before you.
26 Give careful thought to the paths for your feet
and be steadfast in all your ways.
27 Do not turn to the right or the left;
keep your foot from evil.”

I love being a father. I don’t know exactly what it is, but I think it’s tied to being a leader servant. Leader servant because we have to lead, servant because kids sure expect to have everything given to them. We were kids once too.

I love my children very, very, very, very🔄 much. My kids rock too if I do say so myself. Unique, outspoken, humble, confident, questioning, fairly level headed, aware, giving, humble (again), flawed, self-aware. Living in the world with Christ as their anchor, all in different phases of their faith walk. I pray that the cycle of addiction and lovelessness my mom and dad started to break is finally broken completely. I see it broken in my siblings family and that’s very cool. I hope it holds in mine.

I know there are horrible fathers out there to who do unspeakable evil to their children, who bring horror and pain into their children’s lives. I hear it first hand in some of the men I meet in the jail. I see some of them struggle to understand what kind of cycle they are even in to know what to get out of! Fathers are a powerful influence.

My earthly father did the best he could do with the tools he was given. I can’t imagine growing up in a house where I was always told I wouldn’t amount to anything, why can’t I be as good as my siblings, where I never heard “I love you” like he was brought up with. My dad worked real hard to break the cycle and got us going on the way forward.

My heavenly father though…. I wonder how he wants us to break the cycle. How much does Christ, who loves us more than we can ever imagine loving even our kids, want us to break the cycle of addictive selfishness and self-centeredness? He to has shown us the way forward.

In the link at the beginning of this is all of Proverbs 4. Wisdom. Knowledge. Gained from life bumps and bruises. You should read the whole thing. It’ll give you pause to think.

I love being a father and I’ll miss being around my kids this fathers day. I wonder how God misses us.