{"id":2872,"date":"2015-06-14T09:00:35","date_gmt":"2015-06-14T14:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.barbdahlgren.com\/?p=2872"},"modified":"2015-08-10T17:15:23","modified_gmt":"2015-08-10T22:15:23","slug":"choose-to-honor-your-father","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/?p=2872","title":{"rendered":"Choose to Honor Your Father"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Year of Choices…<\/em><\/p>\n

By Barbara Dahlgren from Barbara\u2019s Banter at www.barbdahlgren.com<\/a><\/em>
\n\"Father's<\/a>Father\u2019s Day is a week away.\u00a0 So we have plenty of time to get that soap on a rope and flashy tie for good old Dad!\u00a0 Ties are not the \u201cgo-to\u201d gift they used to be for dads, but there\u2019s always a gift card.<\/p>\n

Ah, fatherhood!\u00a0 In the good old days, a dad just went out, made the money, came back to the house for a home cooked meal, disciplined the little tykes in that \u201cwait until your father gets home\u201d way, did what he wanted for awhile, got a good night\u2019s sleep and started the process all over again the next day.\u00a0 Not so today.\u00a0 Many moms work outside the home, too.\u00a0 Dads have to help with the household chores, help with the nurturing, be loving, sensitive and caring, and be macho-manly too.<\/p>\n

I think it\u2019s nice that fathers are included more today in the rearing and training of children.\u00a0 The Bible never abdicated dads to being just breadwinners.\u00a0 Fathers were expected to be fully involved in raising their children. (Deuteronomy 6:6-9)\u00a0 Fathers were told not to \u201cexasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.\u201d (Ephesians 6:4)<\/p>\n

Those who have\/had loving fathers are indeed blessed.\u00a0 Not only do they grow up with less psychological problems, they have an easier time picturing God the Father as merciful and kind.\u00a0 Those who had distant or abusive fathers have a harder time grasping this.\u00a0 However, the biblical command to honor our fathers is not just a suggestion.\u00a0 It\u2019s a command \u2013 and that command is not conditional.\u00a0 (Exodus 20:12)\u00a0 A father\u2019s moral character or effective parenting skills are not mentioned.\u00a0 So how can we honor those unworthy of our honor?\u00a0 Here are some ideas\u2026<\/p>\n

Try to understand:<\/strong>\u00a0 Understanding why your father is the way he is does not mean you agree with what he\u2019s done.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t excuse wrong behavior. \u00a0It just gives you a little bit different perspective.<\/p>\n

Forgive:\u00a0<\/strong> Forgiveness does not mean you condone harsh actions.\u00a0 It just means you aren\u2019t going to hold a grudge or let it keep you from being kind.\u00a0 Forgiveness means you show compassion even if none was shown to you.\u00a0 However, it doesn\u2019t mean you let people take advantage of your kind nature.<\/p>\n

Love unconditionally:<\/strong>\u00a0 God loves us unconditionally and that\u2019s how we should love our dads.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0They shouldn\u2019t have to earn our love even if they try to make us earn theirs.\u00a0 However, love should not be a \u201cguilt\u201d card people use against each other.\u00a0 Love isn\u2019t emotional blackmail to manipulate people into doing what you want.\u00a0 We can love others but not agree with what they do.<\/p>\n

Accept:<\/strong>\u00a0 Accept your dad the way he is because you can\u2019t change him.\u00a0\u00a0 Realize that just because you understand, forgive, and love doesn\u2019t mean your dad will do the same for you.\u00a0 You do those things because they are the right thing to do.<\/p>\n

Pray:<\/strong>\u00a0 Pray for your father.\u00a0 \u00a0Lift him up to God.<\/p>\n

Consider this\u2026 There are no perfect fathers except one \u2013 God the Father.<\/p>\n

If you have\/had a loving physical father, be thankful.\u00a0 If you didn\u2019t, just remember that you have a heavenly Father who loves you very much and he will never, ever let you down.<\/p>\n

\"Honor<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Suggestions for practicing this choice\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. If you had a loving father, then thank God.\u00a0 Then thank your father for all the things he did for you.\u00a0 Don\u2019t be afraid to be specific.<\/li>\n
  2. Don\u2019t look for closure to past problems between you and your father.\u00a0 I had a friend whose aged father was in the hospital not doing well.\u00a0 This friend wanted to go talk to his father about past issues he had with him.\u00a0 His concern was not about his father.\u00a0 His concern was about himself.\u00a0 Why try to lay mountains of guilt on a dying man?\u00a0 Just pray about it and let it go.<\/li>\n
  3. Don\u2019t try to change your father.\u00a0 It won\u2019t work.\u00a0 We can\u2019t change others; we can only change ourselves.\u00a0 Accept him the way he is and love him anyway.\u00a0 Accepting people the way they are does not mean you condone what they do.<\/li>\n
  4. Make time in your busy schedule for your father.\u00a0 Once in a while listen to the song Cat\u2019s in the Cradle to inspire you to spend a little time with your dad.<\/li>\n
  5. If your father is no longer with you then honor his memory by passing on wonderful lessons you learned from him to your children and grandchildren.\u00a0 Look at old pictures.\u00a0 Share those funny stories.\u00a0 Keep his legacy alive.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    A Year of Choices… By Barbara Dahlgren from Barbara\u2019s Banter at www.barbdahlgren.com Father\u2019s Day is a week away.\u00a0 So we have plenty of time to get that soap on a rope and flashy tie for good old Dad!\u00a0 Ties are … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2872"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2872"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2872\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2872"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2872"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2872"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}