This past Father's Day had me thinking about my own father and even though he passed away seven years ago (in a few weeks it will be exactly seven years)... I remember that early on in my life my father and I did not always have the best relationship. In my mid-teens our relationship did get better, but then it was mostly about having fun. Only as my father got older and sicker did he start to open up to me and really talk, to have what I would consider a real relationship.     

Many of us did not have a good relationship with dad growing up. Maybe he wasn’t there enough, maybe he wasn’t supportive enough, maybe he was iron-fisted or maybe he pushed us into things we didn’t want to be involved in…    

What may be even more disturbing is that as we get older (or at least as I do) – I sometimes look at my hands and I am shocked because what I see are not my hands but my father’s hands!

     That has, on occasion, brought to mind the question – “Does my son, my daughter see my father’s hands?” This is translated –

 “Do my kids see me the same way that I saw my dad?” or

“What kind of father do my kids see?” And –

“Will they one day look at their hands and be shocked, or will they be thankful that their hands look like their father’s?

Since we use the term “FATHER” for God… and our kids know us as father – it won’t take them long to equate the two – that is – the will see God the Father by dad their father.     

You may not have had a good, real relationship with your father… but that doesn’t mean you cannot have a good relationship with YOUR children. In fact, I would tell you that it should move you to make sure that your kids see the Father’s Hands in your hands.  Sure, there are attributes of my dad that I want my kids, and grandkids to see in me.

My dad could be a fun kind of goofy, he would do just about anything for anyone, he made a valid effort to stay connected to family (even when stuff might not be the best in that relationship) I like that about him and I want my family to see that too.

But even greater than that - I want them to see my Heavenly Father in me... that when they call God "Father" it is a good, loving, firm, caring, strong vision that they see...I want them to see the Fathers hand on me and in me.

 

“…yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things, and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him.”  

1 Corinthians 8:6 

 

Look at your hands – are they yours, your dad’s or are they your Father’s?