As I stroll amongst the ties, grilling aprons, and golf clubs on display for Father’s Day, I realize that none of those seem right. It’s been a tough year for us… not for our marriage, but health and financial issues seemed to continually arise. A “World’s Greatest Dad” plastic trophy just doesn’t seem to do justice. I know my husband accomplished much in this year of Fatherhood.
After nearly 13 years of marriage, I know my husband pretty well. I don’t need him to verbalize anything for me to be aware of the fact that he is beating himself up. He was around more, made more money, had more energy, gave us more presents, more, more, more. He wishes that in the same way that I wish I was less…I wish I weighed less, nagged less, had less of a mess left uncleaned at the end of the day. We all want what we don’t have. We don’t have enough hours in the day to be all that we want to be.
So What Can We Give???
So what is the best thing we can give fathers when nothing seems right? Respect. Plain and simple. Click To TweetSo what is the best thing we can give fathers when nothing seems right? Respect. Plain and simple. In the midst of all the pain and yuck of the world, my husband needs to know that I not only love him, but I don’t blame him for everything that has gone wrong in our lives. He needs to know that I realize that even though he is not perfect, he really is trying his best. He needs to know that his best is good enough for me. He needs to know that I love him unconditionally and I trust him completely. Sometimes our lives are a mess, but there is no one I would rather be in a mess with than my husband.
“However, each one of you (husbands) also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.” Ephesians 5:33
Similarly, I need to show my own father the same respect. He didn’t do things exactly the way that my husband and I want to do them. But he did the best he could do. And he raised me! 😉
The knowledge that we respect our husbands and fathers is better than any tie in the world. Happy Father’s Day to all you dads out there. We love you, support you, and respect you!
What meaningful Father’s Day traditions do you have? How do you show your father respect?
God’s Word says for fathers to love their children – and children to love their fathers – and that doesn’t change 🙂
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We just hang out as a family. No pressure to really do anything. We just enjoy being together
Us too! Hope you have a great one this year!
LOVE this. So true. Best gift we could give us to follow the Bible’s example and treat the men in our life with respect.
Absolutely! I couldn’t agree more. Sometimes the best gifts we can give someone we love are the intangible ones.
Well the Word of God DOES say that we are to honor our mothers AND fathers, that it may be well with us 🙂
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I know that no matter how much I think I’m working on this, I still miss chances to show him respect. Today, I wrote a post about all the ways my husband is being such a good dad and read it to him. The best part was watching him glow knowing that I see all the little ways his influence is so special for our daughter.
Jennifer DeFrates/Heaven Not Harvard recently posted…A Father’s Day note to my daughter’s dad
I know I should be happy that my husband loves my children. It is with him that I learned that being a father does not necessarily need blood relations. He’s such a good dad to his own daughter and to my three kids as well. However, I can’t help but be sad during Father’s day because I miss my dad so much. It has been 24 years since he passed. 🙁
I’m sorry for your loss. Having your father pass away is hard at any age, no matter how long it has been. I am so happy you have a supportive husband. Our son is adopted and proof that you don’t have to have blood relations to love someone as your own.
We don’t tend to make a big deal out of Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, and Father’s Day because we feel we should be doing a good job of showing our love and appreciation *every* day. My Dad passed away when I was 14, but I love sharing stories about him with my boys and teaching them ideals that he taught me.
I totally agree. Love and respect are so key for parents and certainly something every father would love on his special day, and everyday. – Katy
TV is often so disrepectful of the male figure. Why is that comedic? I agree on respecting of fathers and elders in general.
I agree completely. Some shows seem like they would be harmless, but when you think about the attitude that the kids have towards parents, the shows are very disrespectful. The influences are subtle, but make a big impact over time.
Father’s day usually means lots of ties. It’s better to have lots of time together instead. My son and his dad just hand out.
Father’s Day is what our husband/father day, my family had a dinner last night together with my families, it’s better to have a simple celebration.
Very thoughtful post. Sadly, I just cried through my 14th Father’s Day without my Dad, since he passed away in 2002 from lymphoma. When he was still with us, we always gathered – my Mom, my siblings, our kids – for a family celebration with dinner and dessert and usually many cards and gifts – mostly handmade.
My hubby and I now have only fur babies at home – I call him a “pet papa,” so I made a card for him with all the pets’ photos in it and wrote it as if it was from them.
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I am so sorry for your loss. Even though it’s not fresh, I know it still hurts.
Tara,
This is fantastic. As a father and husband I completely agree. Since you already read my marriage book though, and posted a review of it (https://www.minivanministries.com/book-brigade/marriage-gods-way-giveaway/), I’m sure you can guess I feel that way :).
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