The Hebrew word for father, Abba, is the first word in my Hebrew concordance. This morning is Father’s Day in the year I am writing this Page. It is Sunday as so many of these idealistic days for family and society are designated. Sunday turns out to be serious choice, inviting spiritual interpretation. There was an excellent program on television today that tended to focus on fathers, and their children, with ancillary attention to women and mothers. Seems fair to compare or contrast programs and news about mothers and children on Mother’s Day. The highlight of the program was the story well illustrated of the relationship between Bill Gates Sr. and Bill Gates Jr. The segment’s conclusion was, as it ought to be in the end – Bill, the son, said: I want to be like my Dad. The two men are their own persons, and different in various ways, but the end remark holds well for both men. The younger Gates was really saying that his father served well his family and others. That is what he, Gates, Jr., and his wife now have determined to do.
My family goal for my life is to be the person, and live a life, so that if my children choose to follow in appropriate application it will commend them to God and the persons they may influence. This does not mean that I am or always will be right, or respond graciously to them, even in all their needs, but that they know, in their souls, that I love them and pray only good for them – so to lives of challenge for good. Model parents have a mystery going in their favor, at least in the early years – the children want to elevate them, love them, and respect them. It takes some doing (omissions too) to sour that inner urge. The process can be followed with some clarity in many celebrity and political families. Athletes are often tender in the remembrance of their mothers and fathers – or at least one gender. Luke Walton wanted to achieve like his father in basketball. Tiger Woods, eminent golfer, noted that he had failed the model of his mother, a Buddhist, when he went through his scandal. The Kennedy clan sought the best from their flawed fathers. Failure in many models was moderated by the corrective procedures children followed, especially in finding something better in the other parent. The younger Kennedys were greatly benefitted by the women in the family. They were serious models in the nature of love to family life, so rescued the family from some scandal reporting. There is imperfection in what we are, but genuine love will elevate, perhaps overcome our failures. The model of the nature of God is love that overshadows all other factors.
The appeal of a model is found in the mystery of the soul. The model ought to be affirmative, but to the degree he or she is not modeling there is some hope in the love nature that might carry the day. One senses the importance of the model life, but may little realize the matter is clothed in love. All this is to say that every genuine model must also be touched with the love of God for the context in which that model is found. Mother Teresa was known as something of a stern person in her work. A man might have found it difficult to have been married to her. Those closest to her were impacted by her love for the people she so firmly served. When someone said she had too many children to care for, she responded: That is like saying there are too many flowers. Mother Teresa loved the people she served, and knew that whatever she became, the model was in Christ. Our concern should be to model the Christian life, not in any holier than thou context, but in the awareness of the love of God that replicates agape love in us. No achievements on earth in our ambitions are greater than the love and serve assignments. The Apostle Paul put it well when he wrote: be followers of me. (1 Cor. 11:1/Phil.3:17) By this he meant: follow Christ as I am following him. Interesting, to follow a faithful model is to follow the original. At my best I ought to reflect (mirror) Christ. The world needs faithful reflectors of the virtue, the love, the truth of Jesus Christ. Perhaps most persons will never fully understand genuine Christianity because they see it most fully as a theology of words, and beliefs. It is different than any other faith in that it is a life, a life most fully seen and engaged to self as that of Jesus Christ. When it is perceived, sought and gained the struggle of life itself is ended. Everything then becomes transition from one kingdom, called nature, to another kingdom called the Kingdom of God. Even Christians who have died by the hands of angry persons begged God to forgive tormentors: They do not know what they do. That too came from Jesus. His grace to those who would violate him and his rights become the model for us – to redemptive purpose. *Mark W. Lee, Sr. — 2016, 2020