This Father’s Day, let’s honor the men who pour into the lives of their sons and daughters as only they can. Yes, mothers are crucial – no one denies this! Moms are deserving of all the honor we can give them. Yet, it is the father who understands the value of coming home after a long day, sitting on the ground with his children and taking the time to make sure they understand just how many ways there are to say “vomit.”
Who but a dad will watch his sons wrestle and, when someone inevitably gets hurt, explains how the hit SHOULD have been administered to avoid actual harm, and often determines that while tears may be warranted, whining is not? When the children burp at dinner, mothers turn to dad to set an example. And he does, though not in the way she wanted.
A dad understands the importance of unhesitatingly letting his girls cover (I mean COVER) him with makeup and, with the complete gravity and seriousness he would show at a crucial meeting or sale, participates in dances, tea parties, and more. He offers Mr. Snuggles more tea and asks after his health with the conviction of a man who is speaking with a head of state.
“…it seems to me that to be a dad is to convey the laughing mischief of God.”
Dads alone will proofread songs that are exclusively about boogers. They insist that the obstacle course outside, far from being too dangerous, is in fact not dangerous enough. Dads are, let us be honest, grownups only in the physical sense. As one of Theodore Roosevelt’s friends once said of him, “You must always remember that the president is about six.”
Dads are weird. And silly. Their instinct is both to lay down their own lives for their children, yet also to embarrass them in front of their friends at every possible opportunity. Dad jokes, while derided by many, are surely among the greatest cultural treasures we possess.
Perhaps I exaggerate. Perhaps I should have written something more serious, about how we, as fathers, are meant to resemble our Father God. And yet it seems to me that to be a dad is to convey the laughing mischief of God. I mean, he made the platypus for goodness’ sake. I am convinced that when my boys laugh until they can’t breathe because I am being silly, that the Dad of all of us is laughing, too.
So let’s celebrate all the dads who sing and dance and tickle their kids until they almost throw up, and sometimes, accidentally, do.
Happy Father’s Day.
