Tag: legacy

Father’s Day: Reflecting on Earthly and Heavenly Fathers

Father’s Day is a time to honour the men who shape our lives with love and guidance. We celebrate this day with gratitude, reflecting on the role of fathers in our families. As Christians, we also look to God, our perfect Heavenly Father, who loves us unconditionally. Today, I deeply miss my late father, yet I am grateful for the example he set through his faithful life, and I find comfort in God’s eternal presence.

The Bible offers profound insights into fatherhood. Psalm 103:13 states, “As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him.” This verse highlights God’s tender, steadfast love. Similarly, Matthew 7:11 teaches, “If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” These passages reveal God as the perfect Father, whose care surpasses even the best earthly fathers.

Not everyone has a positive father figure to celebrate. For some, Father’s Day may evoke pain or absence due to a father’s neglect or loss. In these moments, God promises to be a father to the fatherless. Psalm 68:5 declares, “A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling.” No matter our circumstances, God offers love, protection, and guidance to all who seek Him. His perfect fatherhood is unchanging and available to everyone.

This Father’s Day, I feel the weight of my father’s absence. He passed away some years ago, and today, I miss him keenly. I am grateful for the life he lived—one marked by hard work and integrity. His example continues to guide me as a Christian and as a person. While my heart aches, I find solace in God’s fatherly love, which never fades.

For those missing their fathers or lacking a father figure, God’s embrace offers comfort. Isaiah 40:11 paints a vivid picture: “He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart.” Yet, the Bible makes it clear that we can only approach this loving Father through Jesus Christ and His sacrifice. John 14:6 declares, “Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’” To experience God’s fatherly love, we must surrender to Jesus, following Him as the only way to the Father.

As we mark Father’s Day, let us give thanks for the fathers who have blessed our lives and pray for those who find this day challenging. May they come to know God’s love by surrendering to Jesus, the only path to the Father. For me, this day blends gratitude for my father’s legacy with trust in God’s unchanging care. May we all find peace in following Christ to our Heavenly Father’s embrace.

One Day’s Dream is Another Day’s… (PoW#14)

Pearl of Wisdom #14

What is now in the junkyard was once somebody’s lifelong dream.

Life is a funny thing, and is so often dictated by the drive to gain material possessions. It is not wrong to have things, and indeed we need many of them, but it ought to shock us to realise how much of our lives are driven by the pursuit of “stuff”.

It is even more humbling when we consider that whatever we gain in life – materially that is – cannot come with us. Whatever you believe about the afterlife, surely you will agree that none of these possessions we worked so hard to get can come with us.

Think about what you will one day leave behind. Your dream, whatever it was and no matter how long it took you to build, will ultimately age, breakdown or be thrown away.

Junkyards and rubbish dumps are full of things that were perhaps once someone lifelong dream.

I don’t say any of this to depress you! But I’ve learned that life is very short compared with eternity, and we only get one shot at it. Don’t waste your life working for something that will one day be trashed.

Work out what is really important and start building a lasting legacy.