Our fathers

What do we need from our fathers? Ann Voskamp suggests:

Sometimes what you want most is your father to give you the greatest gift anyone can give someone: for him to believe in you.

I need you Dad to say that I am yours and you aren’t ashamed of me,
I need you Dad to say that I am loved and nothing I can ever do or fail to ever do will change how you forever love me.

Nothing wounds like the elusiveness of love.

It is what Shakespeare said: “When a father gives to his son, both laugh; when a son gives to his father, both cry.”

“I love you, Dad. Nothing you’ve ever done or ever failed to do will change how I forever love you.

You’re mine and I’m not ashamed of you but I acclaim you for the battles you fought and won, for every struggle that counts as a win because you stayed in the game, you kept breathing and kept wrestling and kept getting up again. You’ve never lost if you’ve learned. You’ve never failed if you’ve let your feet find the floor again come morning.

And if I’ve loved redemption and grace and mercy for me, how can I love anything less for you?

Love is patient and patience is a willingness to suffer — and simply, I choose to always love and suffer with you.”

And maybe there’s a way every kid can someday, maybe, get a little closer to the hope of saying that.

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