Deck 2 - The Father
I have always been a ‘Daddy’s’ girl. My Dad was my knight in shining armor, my first Valentine, my coach, my teacher, and my friend. He always picked me for his BB team when we were kids which was saying something since both my siblings played basketball for the High School. A true act of selfless charity! Loving, patient, kind, strong, smart, funny, available, and interested all describe my dad and best of all – he loved ice cream AND donuts! He spent time with each of us kids on ‘dates’, getting to know us and listening to our endless chatter!
My Dad also had a commanding physical presence at 6’3” tall. He had the largest hands and feet I had ever seen! In my mind he was infallible…. that is until he was not. Traveling to the beach in South Carolina one year, it was just he and I in the car. He was pilot and navigator, pre internet, cell phones and GPS systems. We made the trip every year. Deep in the remote coastal countryside of SC, we made a wrong turn and got lost. Dad was furious. It could not be. He knew the way! The state signs MUST be wrong! He was angry, impatient, and maybe a little embarrassed that we had lost our way. He insisted again and again the signs were WRONG, not his directions. The realization that my dad was not perfect and did not know all was quite a shock to me. I was stunned. We finally made it to the beach and joined the rest of the family. I knew better than to tease him about our escapades. I was dismayed and confused about my newfound knowledge. How could this be? How could he be fallible? Could I always trust him to know the way?
Many of us shape our image of God the Father, based on our earthly Fathers. With great hope yours has been a positive, loving experience like mine but in case he was not (Jeremiah 31:13), rest assured our Heavenly Father is always available (Isaiah 58:9), knows and loves us uniquely, desires time with us and is ready to overlook our faults (Jeremiah 31:33-34). He does not get lost or distracted by the noise on the road or the winds of popular culture.
Our Father, who art in heaven…sound familiar? (Matthew 6:9-15) He is a perfect father. He is a good and gracious GOD, slow to anger and rich in mercy. (Psalms 145:8) He is wise (1 John 3:19-20), patient, gentle and just. He is eternally faithful and steadfast, meaning he never changes. He has infinite mercy and compassion for us, especially when we turn to him, sorry for our sins along with a firm resolve to sin no more and to grow in virtue. We are called to love him and worship the one true God in mind, body, spirit and will. (Deut. 6:4-5) He also draws all things to himself (John 12:32). Deep in our hearts, he tugs at our heartstrings, thirsting for our love (John 19:28). He does not need our love, but he wants it, freely given, a choice to love and follow him. We search throughout our lives, yearning for this kind of steadfast love and true relationship. As St. Augustine of Hippo famously said, “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in you.” (Augustine of Hippo, Confessions)
Our Father is the powerful creator of heaven and earth and all that resides there. He is true (John 3:33). He has always existed and is not bound by time or space like we humans are bound (Exodus 3:13-15). He created us to love and to be loved in his image (1 John 4:8). To love and to live in communion with Him (Leviticus 26:12) and each other in peace and joy, mercy and gratitude, trust, and obedience. The original plan, in the garden of Eden, was perfect. Adam and Eve were in perfect union with God and pure communion with each other. No death, sickness, or sin. Quite tranquil we can imagine was the original design of our souls in union with God the Father. To love well and authentically, we were given a free will so we could choose LOVE and GOOD with our human will and intellect. Commanded love is more like a puppet’s “love”, is it real or manipulated? The only stipulation for the Garden was obedience to God, his one command, do not eat the fruit of the tree of good and evil lest you die (Genesis 2:16-17). satan, in the form of the serpent, tempted Eve to disobey God, not by selling her on the idea that God does not exist (She knew God and walked with him in the cool of the day. Genesis 3:8); rather satan tempted her by inferring God is not trustworthy (Did God Say?), that God is manipulative and does not want you to be as smart as him. (Genesis 3:1, 3:4-5) The father of lies at it again…disrupter, doubter, scatterer, murderer, devil trying to separate us from our Heavenly Father by telling us God is fallible and not trustworthy and does not know the road to happiness, love, and eternal life.
It is hard to believe and understand that we have a Father and creator in heaven who is powerful and loving, especially if the model of our earthly father falls a little short or we believe satan’s lies that God is not trustworthy. But our God, Our Father IS and always has been. In his infinite wisdom (Isaiah 40:28) he gives us many ways to discover who he is in Holy Scripture and throughout nature. All created things in their beauty, truth and goodness can point us to our creator. Take the time to understand who God the Father is; the first person of the Holy Trinity. Pray to recognize his power and mercy in your life. Pray that he will always keep you on the right road to your ultimate destination: eternal love and life with him and his Son in Heaven. He will never make a wrong turn.