Today is Father's Day, and it surely is a day to celebrate the brilliance of our God in designing the role, the office of Father.

There is no greater privilege and responsibility given to a person than to be a father. Being created in God's image, we get to share in some of his attributes and one of the greatest is to be an earthly father. I am first a child of God, then a husband and friend to my wife, and right next to all that I am a dad to my children.  My being a dad derived from my being fathered by God, and then being in a covenant love relationship with my wife (marriage), and out of this came the privilege and joy of fatherhood. It follows that if I, in some way, short-change or neglect my first two primary relationships or make them less than they should be, the richness of the fathering of my children will be diminished.  I know there are some dads that error on the side of simply living their own life, or parents that live primarily for themselves and neglect their children's best interests. But others of us tend to error (unintentionally) on the side of looking out for our children's interests––at the expense of our more primary relationships.

A wise man once said that the greatest gift he could give his children would be to love their mother well. Keeping a marriage vibrant and united gives children, whether young or older and grown-up, a precious and critically important foundation of security that nothing else in this world can provide. Only a miracle from Heaven can heal the wound a child receives when their parents don't really get along and don't know how to love each other as God designed and intended. And it's important to remember that an imbalance of priority between these relationships can be very subtle, and quite unintentional.

But the negative consequences and the hurts inflicted are still very real, and need and deserve to be recognized and rectified with humility and intentionality. We are all imperfect, in constant need of the grace of the Cross, and there is no place for living in shame for our imperfections, but it is our part to let Heaven's light break through and inspire "repentance"--looking at things differently! And then, by God's grace, actually changing behavior, "walking out" a new understanding.

This is Father's Day, and I am so grateful––to have a perfect Heavenly Father, a wonderful earthly dad, and an amazing grace-filled marriage partner who not only allowed me to be a  father, but has done so much (at times seen but too often unseen and unrecognized) to support my role and image as a really good dad.

Here's to becoming great fathers!

God bless you always,

Ricky Lee

(AKA: Rick the Doctor)