Happy Father's Day
20/06/10 17:43
Leigh Eric Schmidt said, "Father's Day was comical in
part because fathers seemed s out of place or
uncomfortable in this holiday world of sentimental
gifts and domestic flattery. 'The little
remembrances' of flowers, cards, and novelties became
funny when showered on Father; they opened up a line
of humor that played on gender incongruities of
holiday gift giving. As one editorial writer on the
holiday put the matter in 1925, fathers have 'no
talent for the fribbles and frabbles and furbelows
with which Mother signalizes well-being.'" Schmidt
notes that the founder of Mother's Day, Anne Jarvis,
saw Father's Day as a "poorly disguised plot of some
necktie, tobacco, or whiskey and lottery promoters."
Schmidt further commented, "The snide perception that
the holiday was an inane hoax and the merchants were
responsible for putting it over on people found ample
expression. Father's Day, more than any other
celebration up to that time, demonstrated the
corrosive cynicism that had come to hedge in modern
rituals in a world of advertising and promotion."
Cynical it may be, but the bell of truth has a little ring to it doesn't it? It seems that we are forever turning around and buying a card for this person or that person. I think the Mafia would have faired better if they had gotten their hands in on Hallmark or American Greetings. Even with the introduction of E-Cards, these little pieces of folded paper have made millions of dollars for their owners, all in the name of sentimentality and/or obligation. Oops, some of my own cynicism is starting to show.
For Pete's sake, has it come to be that we honor our fathers because they deserve it, or is it because it's Father's Day? I realize, of course, that children want to honor their fathers, even as the Lord commanded, "Honor thy father and mother." But sometimes it's hard to do that, given the situations that we hear on the news now-a-days.
I don't have any problem honoring my father. My biological father passed when I was four years old and I didn't have a father for about five years. My father married my mom when she had five kids and the man worked himself silly, going to school after working forty, sometimes fifty hours a week.
He bettered himself because he went instantly from being a bachelor to being a husband and father of five. He did a good job, we never wanted for anything and we lived in a nice, safe home in 'suburbia' America. I always enjoyed when he did the grocery shopping - we got more stuff!
He was fair. He was smart and wise. He knew when to discipline and he knew when to ignore. The only time I really saw him mad was when I (as a tenn aged brat) and after many times of bringing hardship to the family, smarted off to my mother (his wife)! I deserved his wrath; and just when I thought he was going to deliver it, he withheld.
I have no problem sending him a card! I have no problem thanking him for being the dad he was. And truth be told: I would have had him change only one thing about himself. Oh, I wish I could see his love for Jesus a little more. I wish I had the assurance that he has totally surrendered himself to Jesus' Lordship. I guess I want this for selfish reasons - I wouldn't mind spending eternity with a man like him.
Happy Father's Day,
Pastor Jim
Cynical it may be, but the bell of truth has a little ring to it doesn't it? It seems that we are forever turning around and buying a card for this person or that person. I think the Mafia would have faired better if they had gotten their hands in on Hallmark or American Greetings. Even with the introduction of E-Cards, these little pieces of folded paper have made millions of dollars for their owners, all in the name of sentimentality and/or obligation. Oops, some of my own cynicism is starting to show.
For Pete's sake, has it come to be that we honor our fathers because they deserve it, or is it because it's Father's Day? I realize, of course, that children want to honor their fathers, even as the Lord commanded, "Honor thy father and mother." But sometimes it's hard to do that, given the situations that we hear on the news now-a-days.
I don't have any problem honoring my father. My biological father passed when I was four years old and I didn't have a father for about five years. My father married my mom when she had five kids and the man worked himself silly, going to school after working forty, sometimes fifty hours a week.
He bettered himself because he went instantly from being a bachelor to being a husband and father of five. He did a good job, we never wanted for anything and we lived in a nice, safe home in 'suburbia' America. I always enjoyed when he did the grocery shopping - we got more stuff!
He was fair. He was smart and wise. He knew when to discipline and he knew when to ignore. The only time I really saw him mad was when I (as a tenn aged brat) and after many times of bringing hardship to the family, smarted off to my mother (his wife)! I deserved his wrath; and just when I thought he was going to deliver it, he withheld.
I have no problem sending him a card! I have no problem thanking him for being the dad he was. And truth be told: I would have had him change only one thing about himself. Oh, I wish I could see his love for Jesus a little more. I wish I had the assurance that he has totally surrendered himself to Jesus' Lordship. I guess I want this for selfish reasons - I wouldn't mind spending eternity with a man like him.
Happy Father's Day,
Pastor Jim
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