...just like my Father in heaven.

I want to be a Dad someday. Of course, I'd like to be a husband first, but being a Dad would just be too sweet. All the slobber and poop and preschool and teeball and spankings and grade reports and recitals and pimples and rebellion and pizza and first-dates and musicals and shopping and holidays and girls...and so much more. Being a Dad would be such a blessing. What a privilege.

It's a tragedy that some of us men see the privilege of fatherhood as a duty, or anything less than a glorious, God-given privilege.

Everything that God gives any of us (especially a family, wife and kids), and every opportunity of obtaining what we need are undeserved mercies from the Giver of all good things. When we believe this, and have this written into the corner of our existence, it will transform our every task and our every day. Everything that God gives you and I, and every opportunity of obtaining what we need is an undeserved expression of God's favor and grace. In a society that is preoccupied with its “rights”, the word of God calls us to focus on “privileges”. As men of faith and integrity, we must embrace this truth for the good of our families, and for the Kingdom.

Just as Noah "found favor in the eyes of the Lord," I want to find favor in the eyes of my father. Just as any kind and loving son would, I desire to joyfully obey him, respect him, and serve him to the best of my abilities. And God willing, one day I will be able to look into the eyes of my son with this same grace and favor.

But it's a two-way street.

If it is true that young must learn to serve the elderly, then it must equally be true that the elderly need to learn, with good grace, to accept the offerings of the younger. We men will have to learn to respond to the good graces of our children in an equally graceful fashion. There are many children, who endeavoring to do well for their parents, have been so soured in the process by the reaction of their ungrateful, cantankerous parents the joy of service and the privilege of the opportunity have been dulled. I want to be the Dad who can respond with a sincere and grateful heart to the meekest of my children's offerings. I want to be a Dad...just like my Father in heaven.