Sunday will be Father’s Day and History.com tells us more about this day which celebrates fathers. The origins of Father’s Day shows that the campaign to celebrate the nation’s fathers did not meet with the same enthusiasm–perhaps because, as one florist explained, “fathers haven’t the same sentimental appeal that mothers have.”
On July 5, 1908, a West Virginia church sponsored the nation’s first event explicitly in honor of fathers. It was a Sunday sermon in memory of the 362 men who had died in the previous December’s explosions at the Fairmont Coal Company mines in Monongah, but it was a one-time commemoration and not an annual holiday.
The next year, a Spokane, Washington, a woman named Sonora Smart Dodd, one of six children raised by a widower, tried to establish an official equivalent to Mother’s Day for male parents. She went to local churches, the YMCA, shopkeepers and government officials to drum up support for her idea, and she was successful: Washington State celebrated the nation’s first statewide Father’s Day on June 19, 1910.
Slowly, the holiday spread. In 1916, President Wilson honored the day by using telegraph signals to unfurl a flag in Spokane when he pressed a button in Washington, DC. In 1924, President Calvin Coolidge urged state governments to observe Father’s Day.
Today, the day honoring fathers is celebrated in the United States on the third Sunday of June: this year Father’s Day will be this coming Sunday June 16.
As a father and also a grandfather, I will certainly attest that the day is not nearly as important as Mother’s Day. I mean over the years I have had it celebrated and received a gift and a special meal and for that I am very thankful to our kids. Who by the way with kids of their own, our son and son-in-law experience the same things I did and countless others.
Being a father for 2/3rds of my life has taught me a lot. It has taught me first that being a father is not an easy proposition. It is hard especially when you add the responsibility of providing for the family. I’m not the first nor will I be the last with that responsibility but no matter it can weigh on you at times.
I remember when God began to move in our life for me to enter full time ministry. Lacey had just graduated and entered into her university years. Erik was to begin middle school. We were going have to move because of the place God was leading me to serve. We were having to sell our house, leave our friends, family, church and do it having never done anything like that before. We do have a tremendous respect for those who make major moves in their ministry life. Whether to another state or another country.
Lacey was going to stay in our home town and live with a girlfriend in their own apartment while she went to school. That was very hard to leave her there, although her grandparents were close by and we could get there quickly if needed but still it was hard. I know it was for them but it was hard for me, too. I needed to follow God’s call on my life and I still needed to provide for and take care of the family He had given me. There can be a lot of pressure and guys I know you understand what I am saying.
Mom’s are hands on and there all the time. As I think back, I wish I could have had those kinds of opportunities. Don’t get me wrong as I was involved in their lives from gymnastics, to cheerleading. From tee ball, to Little League, to soccer, basketball and high school football. I was there and I loved being there and I hope it meant as much to them as it did to me.
I hope I was a good Dad and an example to our kids. I think I was as I watch now how they love their spouses and their kids. How they are all in with our grandkids. You see they may be the parents but we are Nani and Poppa. If it weren’t for us, they wouldn’t be here. I know that may sound harsh but it is not and meant to convey the truth that we all are responsible for others.
Proverbs 23:24 NLT says-
The father of godly children has cause for joy. What a pleasure to have children who are wise.
I will be the first to say that our kids aren’t now or have they ever been perfect. Sorry you two but it’s true. However, they are wise and for that I am grateful. They saw it in me but they received it from the Lord Himself just like I did. I also had a wonderful and Godly father. He was wise and loved my sister Karen and I. We never wondered or worried because we knew he was there.
How did he, how did all of we Dad’s get to that point? We saw it and knew about our Heavenly Father. We have learned from the best through the best and trust that the best will continue in the generations to come.
Happy Father’s Day to all you Dad’s out there. I hope you have a blessed day with your family.
In God’s Grace,
Elbert Nasworthy
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