FATHER'S DAY THOUGHTS

A father is not always the emotionless side of parenthood who substitutes toughness for tears and firmness for feelings. The masculine side of the human family is quite capable of tenderness, love and sympathetic understanding. A father does not have to be a proverbial bull in life's emotional china shop. He does not have to be a ruffian to establish the authority of his fatherhood. He can be a calm and quiet source of power. He can be a stable influence in the midst of a whole family full of disorientations[sic].

Sometimes he may laugh and again he may cry, but all the time there are feelings as real as life itself. A father can be the source of his child's need to be caressed. He can instill a sense of masculine integrity in his sons and encourage his daughters to develop their feminine mystique. He teaches his children to respect the things that are respectful and to keep themselves unspotted from the world. A father plows the furrow in which his children will walk. If the row becomes crooked, he teaches them the value of making it straight again.

A father does not have to be perfect, but he will work hard to perfect his skills of fatherhood. His greatest reward will be in seeing his children succeed in the art of living. A father will offer his children's mother a place in the sun. He will create a haven of security around their love nest. He will give her a sense of pride in being the queen of their home. His children will observe his love for their mother and follow his example.

A father may not be a theologian nor an expositor of the gospel, but he can instill a consciousness of God in the family he helped to create. His tools for teaching may be lacking in refinement but his lessons in word and deed will be profoundly effective. For better or for worse, a father cannot escape his role as teacher. A faithful father is never so far away from home that home is not near to his heart. He finds satisfaction and fulfillment in sharing life with those he loves. His identity comes from being family where he is respectfully given the title of "father." Yet, he is never so preoccupied with his own castle that he ignores his ultimate home with the Father in heaven.

Excerpts from "Another Perspective", an article by Dr. Calvin S. Metcalf