Posts Tagged: surviving Father’s Day
DTEB, SURVIVING FATHER’S DAY
I have survived another Father’s Day. That is a major accomplishment for me. Every time that someone wished me a “Happy Father’s Day!” it was like a stake being driven through my mind and heart.
Yes, I am a dad No, I was not a good one. Perhaps I wasn’t quite as bad as I or my adult children think, but we can probably agree on one thing: I wasn’t a particularly good dad, and I did a lot of damage.
I console myself with several truths, which I hope are truly true.
Truth # 1: Perhaps (and it is hard to argue with “perhaps!), I did a few things right. Along with my wife (who did all the heavy lifting), I did help give them life. My kids can’t take that away from me, even if they would like to!
Truth # 2: I helped keep them alive until they were able to be more or less on their own.
Truth # 3: I have tried to own up to the wrong I’ve done. I have not done this to their satisfaction, but I do not exist for their satisfaction.
Truth # 4: While I am very far indeed from the man I want to be, I am not entirely the man I used to be.
Truth # 5: That was then; this is now.
Truth # 6: Every dad I’ve ever gotten to know personally is a very flawed creature.
These truths do not console me much. However, my suspicion is that truth does not exist in order to console. Truth exists in order to be true.
Meanwhile, it is June 20, the day after Father’s Day and the first day of summer. It is another day, to invest myself in God, in other people, in becoming a better version of myself. I think that I had better get over myself and on with the tasks at hand. Right now, I need to eat some oatmeal with blueberries and a little brown sugar and cinnamon, run two or three miles, study, pray, encourage others, prepare for Bible Lands and Life Ways, work on a review for Stone-Campbell Journal, be emotionally available to my wife. The kind of dad I was (and was not) in the past is none of my business. My business today is today.
That is your business, dear reader, as well.
DOWN TO EARTH BELIEVER
- DTEB, “Getting Christ and Ourselves Back in Focus” November 11, 2024“Col. 3:1 ¶ If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Col. 3:2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. Col. 3:3 For you have died, and your life is hidden […]
- “Search Me!” October 27, 2024“Psa. 139:23 Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! 24 And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” (Psalm 139:23-24, English Standard Version) I am participating in a Bible study, and this is a prayer […]
- “Christian Speech” October 26, 2024“Eph. 4:29 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.” Foulkes, in his excellent commentary on the Book of Ephesians, writes the following, which I quote at some length: “29. Now the […]
- “God is in the Details” October 11, 2024“The devil is in the details.” (A general saying, often quoted by lawyers, reporters, and negotiators.) “God is in the details.” (Me, almost certainly not original.) “Luke 12:7 Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.” (Jesus) God does not micromanage, but God […]
- “Grandma’s Pump” October 8, 2024When I was a little critter, I would stay at my grandma’s house for a night or two sometimes. I liked this for a lot for many reasons. One thing I liked about staying with her was that Grandma’s house was much more technologically advanced than ours was. For one thing, she had indoor water—sort […]
- “Wearing the #14 Wrong-Side-Out” October 5, 2024Pete Rose, #14, is dead. Many of the old guys with whom I play softball watched him play and appreciated him greatly. I do as well. He was one of the greatest players who ever played the game. Yes, he admitted (eventually) to betting on baseball. But many of us still regard him as one […]
- “Passing Along the Love (and a Link)” October 4, 2024Several years ago, a friend of mine put me onto a daily meditation by Richard Rohr and friends. I don’t read them all the time, but I probably should. They are good! I thought that today’s writing was especially good, and I also figured that this would be a good way to post something. I […]
- “Witnessing Versus Being Witnesses” September 19, 2024“Acts 1:1 In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, Acts 1:2 until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. Acts 1:3 He presented himself alive to them after […]
- “A Bathroom Prayer for Hurting Hands” September 11, 2024A week ago Sunday, my hands were hurting so badly at church that I went to the bathroom to run hot water over my hands. Arthritis perhaps, or carpal tunnel, or general orneriness—I don’t know why my hands hurt, but they do. They have for years. So, while I was running hot water over my […]
- “Waiting and Seeking” September 10, 2024“Lam. 3:19 ¶ Remember my affliction and my wanderings, the wormwood and the gall! Lam. 3:20 My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me. Lam. 3:21 But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: Lam. 3:22 ¶ The steadfast love of the LORD […]
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