What is a Father?

“When I was fourteen my dad was so ignorant that I couldn’t stand to have him around, but when I turned twenty-one, I was astonished at what he learned in seven years,” is a common quote.

I was given many jobs and lessons as a child, which my parents told me were valuable. Many of those jobs were yard work and other duties in which I saw no purpose except them lightening their own work load. However, the adult me saw that those and many more things my parents did made perfect sense and truly built quality and discipline in me that I needed for a healthy life. The distance between the job/lesson and my seeing its value are directly proportional to the time it took me to mature.

I know a business owner who is so highly skilled in his craft that all his employees and he, himself, expect no mistakes on the job. He has proven excellence in action without having to tell it in words. One day he walked into one of his stores that was in a bad state of attitude and operation. He wanted to help but wasn’t sure how or what would work. He stepped in and made a mistake the lowest rookie on the job wouldn’t. The store came alive. All caught his mistake and spoke to it. Despite his personal embarrassment, the store was suddenly restored to good operation and attitude. The owner got a lesson and his prayer was answered simultaneously. That’s the way a dad works, in this instance, a heavenly Dad.

Confusion in Christian lives often comes when we believe we are the adult and are meant to understand things as they happen. We are the child. Many of the things God does in and through our lives are beyond our understanding in the moment. Our job, as a child, is to trust that He knows what’s best and what He’s doing because we know Him and His quality. Human dad’s often get more trust than they deserve and the Heavenly Father often gets much less than the total trust He deserves.

My dad was always out in the lead. At each stage of my life, junior high, high school, college, independence, marriage, children, and so much more, I began to say things he had been saying all along. I kept getting astonished at his wisdom. So it is as a Christian. I’m gaining pieces of insight, knowing that much more understanding is coming down the road. I am trying to learn to be a child without being childish to a Father who does not give up or fail.