Mom gave a beautiful tribute to fathers on her blog (I know you are tempted not to check it because the posts are few and far between), so if you haven't read it, go read it. I wanted to pass something along that Sister Dearden in our ward said during sacrament that I thought was an amazing insight.
She has a friend who had a father who never showed her any love. She always felt alone, never trusted, never supported and never that calming and strengthening assurance that her father loved her. When she joined the church, she had a hard time developing a relationship with God as her Heavenly Father. She had a hard time believing He loved her always. She had a hard time accepting Him as a Father, because it didn't seem fitting for her that Someone so good could have the title Father, when the only father she knew never showed the attributes we know to be true of our Heavenly Father. She has a hard time going to him when she needs someone, because she has never had someone like that.
Her application was the same as mine, but this one was personal to me. My dad did love me. My dad still loves me. My dad does support me and cares about me. My dad is there for me. So accepting God as my Father has always been very easy and natural to me. The attributes I admire and look up to in my dad are attributes he has learned from our Heavenly Father. Because I knew and know I could go to my dad with any trouble, I learned from an early age that is what fathers do. They love, protect, teach, rebuke, respect, provide and care. I learned from an early age what my Father in Heaven was like by watching my own dad. I have never made that connection before. My dad, by being my dad, lead me to greater faith in God as a Father. My relationship with my dad, because he acted the way he did, taught me about God as a Father.
I thought that was a cool insight. I love thinking about it. It brings a lot more meaning into my relationship with Jackson and Christian, and great memories and feelings of my relationship with Dad. I love you!
2 comments:
You're right, you have been blessed with a wonderful dad and you are a great dad as well. Now Jackson and Christian will be able to do the same with their children because of you. The one thing that I think I love the most is not only great examples but also that even if we fall short of our own perfect expectations its ok and we are still loved with the knowledge we can continue to work on our imperfections and that's ok too. I loved your blog, thank you and I love you too. Mom
thank you. i love you
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