Dads imitate God as creator, provider, caregiver

Finding material for Father’s Day is a lot more difficult than it is for Mother’s Day. Maybe we should start by stating some virtues we expect to find in our fathers: love, honesty, trust, courage, goodness, commitment, vision and faithfulness.

We can also look at the teaching of the Bible to learn something of fatherhood. It seems that God the Father has three main roles: creator, provider and caring lover.

We believe God created all humanity and therefore the father of all people. Isaiah acknowledged, “O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand.” (Isaiah 64:8). Malachi asked, “Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us?” (Malachi 2:10)

We know that fathers help create new life. They also should create an atmosphere where new life can grow and prosper, an atmosphere of love. American writer Clarence B. Kelland tells us about his own experience. “My father didn’t tell me how to live; he lived, and let me watch him do it.” Fathers are made after the image and likeness of God and they should reflect God’s goodness in their lives.

A father is a provider. St. James declared the Father’s providential care when he said, “Every generous act of giving, with every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” (James 1:17).

In the past, the emphasis of being a provider was to make money so the family could have the things they needed to live. Basketball coach Jim Valvano once said, “My father gave me the greatest gift anyone could give another person, he believed in me.” An unknown author reminds us, “Any man can be a father. It takes someone special to be a dad.”

Children want and need more than material things. They need their father’s interest, his time, his love, his confidence. One night a father overheard his son pray: “Dear God, make me the kind of man my daddy is.” Later that night the father prayed, “Dear God, make me the kind of man my son wants me to be.” Sigmund Freud once said, “I cannot think of any need in childhood as strong as the need for a father’s protection.”

God the Father is also a caring lover. Jesus revealed God’s fatherly love in the parable of a concerned father who rejoices when his prodigal son returns home (Luke 15:11-32). Paul noted, “May God our Father, who loved us and through grace gave us eternal comfort and good hope, comfort your hearts and strengthen them in every good work and word.” (2 Thessalonians 2:16-17).

John wrote, “Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!” (1 John 3:1).

What a child needs more than anything else is a loving, caring person in their lives. Being tender and caring is a fatherly trait. St. John tells us that God is love. Being a loving person is the highest achievement of fatherhood.

I would like to close with this Father’s prayer. “Dear God, teach us to listen and not be afraid; to trust in your promise. Teach us to love courageously with a heart that is true and just. Teach us to protect one another, and all that belong to you.

“Teach us to keep the Word of God close to our hearts, to proclaim it in word and action. Teach us to be gentle with our power and strong in our tenderness. Teach us to be for our children, a living lesson of goodness and truth; a blessing of hope for all generations to come. Amen.”