God created us in His image and likeness and so who we are, and how we live, is meant to manifest, though imperfectly, something of who he is. Fathers have a particular call to make manifest the Fatherhood of God. This Fatherhood is one that is deeply loving but also involves disciplining us, the sons and daughters, so that we might grow in character and virtue. The letter to the Hebrews tells us that, “God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline?” and “He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness. For the moment, all discipline seems not to be pleasant, but painful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterward it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.” (Hebrews 12:7, 10 &11)
Over the years, I have been blessed to witness the family life of many of my closest friends. In doing so I have been able to see this call to manifest the Fatherhood of God lived out in very real ways as I watch earthly fathers love, discipline, and instruct their children. On one recent visit with close friends, I was inspired by two specific ways that the father of the family was able to give a glimpse of God the Father not only to his children but to me as well.
When his youngest daughter, who is three, is given a chore or task that she does not like, she will often respond, quite emotionally, “I don’t WANT to!” Her dad does not try to convince her, he doesn’t tell her why the task is necessary, or threaten her with consequences if she does not do the work. He simply says, “you don’t have to want to, you just have to do it.” Consequences might occur if she still refuses, but normally the reminder that she does not have to want to do something is enough. Though she may still not want to do it she does so all the same.
There will be times in this pilgrim journey of ours, when God the Father asks us to do something that we don’t readily want to do. Maybe we need to forgive someone who has hurt us deeply, or persevere in a pursuit that has so far proved fruitless, or take a major risk without assurance of the outcome. The good news is that we do not have to want to do those things in order to choose, humbly and obediently, to do so anyway. Our emotions are meant to support our will, such that when we choose what we know is good (what God is asking of us!), we are glad to so, but since the fall of man our emotions have become disordered and do not always support our will as they ought. That is okay! We don’t have to wait until we feel a certain way before we do what know to be good and right. By our nature we have the ability to choose, to will the good, independent of our emotions, and there is merit in our doing so. We grow in virtue and develop character such that, in time, doing the good appointed to us ceases to be drudgery and becomes instead the blessed share in God’s work that it was always meant to be.
When this same father sees one of his children complete a chore or do some act of service in the house, he responds by saying, “thanks for serving the family.” Again, this makes me think of God the Father. God loves each one of us individually, personally, and powerfully, but He also loves His people, the Kingdom of God, His Church, His family. St. Paul reminds us that we are all connected, that “if one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.” (1 Cor 12:26) When I behave virtuously, growing in holiness, it builds the Kingdom of God. When I do what is good, whether that is simply my everyday responsibility or some act of service, it strengthens the whole Church. When we do these things, it pleases our heavenly Father, who rejoices that we are serving the family.
As we press on in holiness, whether by doing a good work that appears painful to us, or by voluntarily doing something that builds the whole Kingdom of God, we are fulfilling our nature. We are becoming more and more the image of God that we were called and created to be.
Prose for the sake of Poetry 