With Father’s Day just around the corner, I thought it might be helpful to look at what makes a good dad. My friend, Max Lucado, has a few words of wisdom to share with us in this guest blog today about what it means to be a good father.
There’s no higher honor than being a dad. Thank you, Mark, for inviting me to share a few thoughts in anticipation of Father’s Day.
Fathering a child is, for many, not difficult. But being a father is! It’s the first and most important decision of fathers: to make a conscientious choice to be a father.
The decision to be a father is not just a delivery room decision, though. It is a daily decision. A century ago, dads were on-site parents, working the farm or running the family store. Children spent a great deal of their time alongside their parents, working together. But in our modern culture, employment distances most dads from their kids. Some dads leave home before the children are awake. Others arrive home long after the kids are home from school. Consequently, it is possible, even common, for a father to forget about fathering—to emotionally disconnect himself from his children.
Throughout the day, every day, dads need to renew their “dad” decision. “Will I attend this convention?” “Is this meeting essential?” “Can I rearrange these appointments to get home earlier?” On the way home from work, dads have to decide to take off the work hat and put on the “dad” hat. It’s a decision to manage his time, carefully reconciling work with the priority of family.
With school officially out for the summer, what decisions are you going to make today to be a more intentional father to your children?
