living loved

A father to the fatherless, a defender of the widows, is God in his holy dwelling. God sets the lonely in families, he leads out the prisoners with singing. . . – Psalms 68: 5-6

Merriam-Webster defines a father as a male parent; a man who has begotten a child. And yes, if you look at the photos above of our bearded beauty that definition in the most simple form is most certainly true. My own biological parent would also fall into that definition – and only that definition – he was in fact a man who begot (and forgot) a child.

So, what is a “father”? The term can carry varied forms of emotions: happiness, joy, love, and comfort are a few of the hopeful emotions. It can also carry: hurt, anger, bitterness, betrayal, and sorrow…

For those who are fortunate to experience the love and compassion from your earthly father (my own sweet babies – yay!), I hope that in that love you got to experience the sweetest love on this side of heaven from your father because he (your dad) was just emulating his heavenly Daddy – our Abba. That love is strong. That love is pure. That love is never-ending and unconditional. Our earthly fathers cannot be perfect, but they can be striving towards that perfection to be everything Abba has called them to be.

According to God’s word, that means being a father to the fatherless and protecting the widows and children and the vulnerable. It means service and love to those without and good, gentle discipline when needed. It means being present, and for the father who loves Jesus, it mean walking alongside our heavenly Daddy for guidance and peace and storming heaven with his prayers for his loved ones and the destitute.

It’s almost an impossible feat…how can our fathers be someone to everyone in a perfect loving way? And although I look at the bearded beauty as a wonderful example of a Godly father – he, too, has his shortcomings (which I won’t list, because after all, it is Father’s Day).

We recently took a trip to Notre Dame. While on a tour, we were introduced to “touchdown Jesus” and offered a photo op. This beautiful artistic rendering of Christ is known by the Notre Dame community as “touchdown Jesus” because from the great football field of Notre Dame, any spectator can see this painting looking over the stadium. It is quite a sight.

But while looking for a photo to share for the blog, this one got my attention. There we are beneath touchdown Jesus (without Ivan, unfortunately) as miniscule tiny posers.

A father can simply be a man who has begotten a child (a poser), or a father can be the biblical definition of father or abba in the Hebrew and pater in the Greek: source and sustainer. This type of father doesn’t have to just be a male parent – this father is a father to all and provides, sustains, and nourishes love without constraint. He loves and disciplines in love. He may not be omniscient like our Heavenly Daddy, but he sure tries to be a source and sustainer for those in need.

I don’t know what your relationship is or was with your own father, but I do know where to guide you if you’re in need or just need some direction and unconditional love: to our God, our Abba, our good, good Father.

He’s always been my one and only Daddy (He’s never forgotten me – not even once). Who’s your daddy?

XOXO, Loni – a proud daughter to the King