Hello, Hello!
It has been a crazy past two weeks for me, but I am still here alive and kicking! Next week, life should slow down a little so here is looking forward to next week. Before, we can reach next week though, we cannot do so without passing through Father's Day. While there is not as much hype surrounding this day as with Mother's Day, I think it is still good that we recognize the role and impact that fathers have in the lives of their children. I am going to speak from my experience as a son and as a father.
Before I get started, I want to take a trip to Proverbs.
I list these scriptures to show that the presence a father in the house is one of great importance. For a son, he has to look to his father to know how to become a man. For a daughter, it is important for her to see how a man should treat a woman, so that she'll know what is acceptable in how she should be treated by a man. Yes, the father figure in the home is very important, but we are living in a time when there are so many fractured homes. There are many homes today with a single mother raising children and the father is no where to be found. In some cases, parents are divorced and the father does spend time with there kids, but it is not the same as having a father in the home every day.
I speak as a child who is blessed to come from a home where my parents were married, remained together, and are still married 34 years to date. Now, this is not to gloat against any one who was raised by a single parent. This is just me saying it is a blessing to have had my father throughout my entire life. To me that is HUGE and very important! As a child, I saw my Daddy get up day in and day out to work from sun-up until sun-down. He did it to provide for his family, so that we might have a better life. (As a parent, I think it is our desire for our children to have an equal and/or better life than we had.) I saw my father open doors for my mother, show affection towards her, and love her.
I sometimes saw the arguments and disagreements between my mother and father, but I also saw that marriage kept going past the argument. I know men can have a lot of pride and it is hard to swallow sometimes (even when we're wrong) so it was important for me to see that anything could be worked out through love. All of these were things that I saw and learned from my father without him having to say a word to me.
Yes, there have been times where instruction has come verbally and that is important as well, however, I think the most important thing is not what you say but how you live. As for me, I have received many tidbits of information from my Dad and many gifts I did not deserve to have, but the most important gift I have (and could have) ever received is his presence. It is that presence that keeps me going every day. I have a wife and two children and now it is my turn to be present in their lives. It is through our lives as fathers that the next generation obtains instruction to pass on the generation that follows them.
We use to have a substitute teacher named Mrs. Chapman in grade school and she had a saying before every class started. She would say, "I just want to tell every one of my students that you are special and you are somebody". Fathers, even if you don't hear it or maybe feel it, you are special and you are somebody. Have a Happy Father's Day and remember to always keep your eyes on the Lord.
Be Blessed.
Regards,
Antoine E. Hall
Blog: http://toinebo.blogspot.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/AntoineHall
"It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect." - 2 Samuel 22:33
It has been a crazy past two weeks for me, but I am still here alive and kicking! Next week, life should slow down a little so here is looking forward to next week. Before, we can reach next week though, we cannot do so without passing through Father's Day. While there is not as much hype surrounding this day as with Mother's Day, I think it is still good that we recognize the role and impact that fathers have in the lives of their children. I am going to speak from my experience as a son and as a father.
Before I get started, I want to take a trip to Proverbs.
Proverbs 4:1 "[ Wisdom Is Supreme ] Listen, my sons, to a father's instruction; pay attention and gain understanding."
Proverbs 13:1 "A wise son heeds his father's instruction, but a mocker does not listen to rebuke"
I list these scriptures to show that the presence a father in the house is one of great importance. For a son, he has to look to his father to know how to become a man. For a daughter, it is important for her to see how a man should treat a woman, so that she'll know what is acceptable in how she should be treated by a man. Yes, the father figure in the home is very important, but we are living in a time when there are so many fractured homes. There are many homes today with a single mother raising children and the father is no where to be found. In some cases, parents are divorced and the father does spend time with there kids, but it is not the same as having a father in the home every day.
I speak as a child who is blessed to come from a home where my parents were married, remained together, and are still married 34 years to date. Now, this is not to gloat against any one who was raised by a single parent. This is just me saying it is a blessing to have had my father throughout my entire life. To me that is HUGE and very important! As a child, I saw my Daddy get up day in and day out to work from sun-up until sun-down. He did it to provide for his family, so that we might have a better life. (As a parent, I think it is our desire for our children to have an equal and/or better life than we had.) I saw my father open doors for my mother, show affection towards her, and love her.
I sometimes saw the arguments and disagreements between my mother and father, but I also saw that marriage kept going past the argument. I know men can have a lot of pride and it is hard to swallow sometimes (even when we're wrong) so it was important for me to see that anything could be worked out through love. All of these were things that I saw and learned from my father without him having to say a word to me.
Yes, there have been times where instruction has come verbally and that is important as well, however, I think the most important thing is not what you say but how you live. As for me, I have received many tidbits of information from my Dad and many gifts I did not deserve to have, but the most important gift I have (and could have) ever received is his presence. It is that presence that keeps me going every day. I have a wife and two children and now it is my turn to be present in their lives. It is through our lives as fathers that the next generation obtains instruction to pass on the generation that follows them.
We use to have a substitute teacher named Mrs. Chapman in grade school and she had a saying before every class started. She would say, "I just want to tell every one of my students that you are special and you are somebody". Fathers, even if you don't hear it or maybe feel it, you are special and you are somebody. Have a Happy Father's Day and remember to always keep your eyes on the Lord.
Be Blessed.
Regards,
Antoine E. Hall
Blog: http://toinebo.blogspot.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/AntoineHall
"It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect." - 2 Samuel 22:33
