This Father’s Day, I felt like I needed to do more than say “Thank you” to the men who are putting in the every day effort to lead and provide. I want you to know how much it matters. When you lead, laugh, and love with your family, you are changing the world! Your routine tasks as a family man have deep purpose and profound impact.
The search for purpose is something we can all identify with. As we grow older, we struggle with whether we are fulfilling our purpose. What is our gift and are we using it? Are we doing the work we were made to do? Often, we are looking at our jobs and wondering if we are wasting our lives in the hustle of it. Or maybe we have a passion or a gift but had to set it aside in order to pay the bills and provide for our families. This can lead to anxiety and depression and insecurity, which causes us to fear the future and to fear God because we are not sure that we are living up to His expectations for our life’s accomplishments.
Let me share with you that everything is ok and that you are enough. You have the power to fulfill such a deeply meaningful purpose simply by living out a Christ centered life in your workplace and in your home.
In a world where so many families are being separated and ripped apart by selfishness and sin it is powerful to just be a strong leader, a patient father, a loyal husband.
It is enough to be a provider.
It is enough purpose to be a teacher and to train your children to be disciplined and well mannered, slow to anger, seekers of justice and granters of mercy.
It is enough purpose to raise a family with good memories and to show them what love looks like in action and not just in word.
It is enough purpose to love your wife radically and to make her feel beautiful and valuable. It is enough to show your daughters what love should look like because they watched you pursue your wife and treat her as a partner. Love your wife so well that your daughters want flowers! They want dances in the kitchen. They want understanding and communication and patience and laughter. Teach their hearts to desire such things because they are good and because they are daughters of a king.
Show your sons how a man carries his household. Pray in front of them. Pray for your family openly. Demonstrate that a man takes out the trash because he loves his wife and wants to see her smile. Expect them to work hard, so that they can appreciate the self-worth and pride that comes from a job well done. Teach them to be wise with their money, generous and responsible.
It is enough purpose to be the man of the house. To be the shelter that your wife leans into and trust to hold her and her kids safe.
It is a huge responsibility! Not to be taken lightly! But if you can do that??!!! If you can be a good man, a good leader, a good father and husband? If you can walk upright on holy paths and demonstrate your faith and integrity. If you can teach and develop your children so that they become adults who go on to love hard and live wisely and love God and raise more children who do the same, then that is enough purpose!!! Living out a faithful marriage and raising a wholesome, loving family is uncommon. In this dark world it is a beacon of hope and a miracle!
You don’t have to preach. You don’t have to have a fancy job and lots of money. You don’t have to be a doctor and save lives. If all you do is live a life that exemplifies Christ and provide your family with a safe and loving home, then you have raised up a family of warriors who stand against the darkness of this world and overcome it. One family at a time. One Dad at a time. One husband at a time. One hero at a time.
That is more than enough. That is a calling. That is generational transformation. That is a powerful purpose.
Well Water Life 