Father's Day, Fathers Pray
This Sunday, we celebrate the day dedicated to showing gratitude to our dads. It’s Father’s Day—just like Mother’s Day, only different. Mothers don’t share their holiday with anyone. Nothing else happens on, or near, their Sunday in May. However, the timing of Father’s Day links it inextricably with graduations; the merchandisers aim their ads at “dads and grads.” A graduation in the family will overshadow dad’s day. On their day, moms get all the focus when it comes to the cards and gifts. The great equalizer is that we get power tools, any tools, and fun stuff like that, not bouquets of dying flowers.
Seriously though, most dads will gladly share their holiday with a graduating kid. The parents likely prayed for that graduation day. In our case, those days are behind us now. Our three kids all graduated when they were supposed to. Two have even gone on for graduate degrees. They’ve all launched well and have fruitful lives. What a blessing! We have no clue how all this happened so fast, but we know why it happened well. We can’t take the credit; we prayed.
Wendi and I prayed fervently over the years in anticipation of our kids’ milestones. Then they came so soon! Suddenly, we’re empty-nesters (not counting the cat and dog). But God has been faithful to answer our prayers.
Whether or not you are still raising your kids, you have hopes and prayers for them. How have you prayed for your children? What have been your hopes for your kids?
I recall seeing a reality TV show where a mother was dragging her daughter, who appeared to be about 8, to an expensive, high-end Beverly Hills tanning salon. According to the mother, the purpose of the visit was to assure that the little girl would be “the prettiest girl in her class” for her school photo. The mother was so intent on this lofty goal that she ignored the objections of her anxious youngster and proceeded to shell out $1,400 for a deluxe, very temporary “tan.”
I’m not sure if the mom in that story prays, but imagine if she did. What would her prayers be for her little girl as she tries to fulfill some unmet need in herself through her helpless daughter? By contrast, Former U.S. Attorney General and deeply committed Christian, John Ashcroft shares the following recollection:
Many kids wake up to the smell of coffee brewing or the sound of a rooster crowing. My wake-up call was my father’s passionate praying filtering through the house. Sometimes I’d ease downstairs and join him. One knee was usually raised, so I’d slip in underneath, shielded by his body as he pleaded for my soul. I never caught Dad praying for our happiness. He realized that the pursuit of happiness for its own sake is a frustrating, disillusioning, often futile effort. Happiness usually hides from those addicted to its sugar, while it chases after those caught up in something more lasting than momentary excitement. I never heard him pray for a bigger house, car, or bank account. Instead, he prayed that our hearts would be ignited and inspired to do things of eternal consequence. “Turn our eyes from the temporal, the physical, and the menial,” he prayed, “and toward the eternal, the spiritual, and the noble.”
God answers prayer. God answers the prayers of dads and moms. I confess that my wife has probably prayed—like most moms—much more than I have for our kids. And since the Bible says, “The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and wonderful results” (James 5:16 NLT), it’s Wendi’s prayers that have produced the bulk of the results we see in our kids. And so far, I like the results. My kids are on the right track, and it inspires me to pray more. So this Father’s Day, fathers, pray.
“In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words;” —Romans 8:26