Fathers, Pray!

Fathers, Pray!

This Sunday we celebrate the day dedicated to showing gratitude to our paternal parent. It’s Father’s Day. Of course, it’s a little different than Mother’s Day.

Mothers don’t share their holiday with anyone. Nothing else happens on, or near, their Sunday in May. However, the timing of Father’s Day links it inextricably with graduations; the merchandisers aim their ads at dads and grads. Not only is our “gift-take” generally lower in value than that received by moms on their day, but we split the attention and spoils with “grads.” Normally (as you can tell) I’m a little resentful about having to share my holiday, but not this year—I’ve got another grad!

Our son, Spencer, has made that significant transition: high school graduation. Then, he’ll be off to college, which absolutely doesn’t seem possible. His sister, Brooke, is already a junior at the university. Kindergarten seems like yesterday!

How did we get here so fast? Suddenly we have another kid leaving the nest for a far off land! (Actually it’s just Moorpark for now). We’ve prayed over the years in expectation of milestones like this, but when they come, it always seems too soon. But this is what we have prayed for and God has been faithful.

Whether or not you are still raising your kids, you have hopes and prayers for them. How have you prayed for your children? What have you truly hoped for in their lives? Success? Happiness? How about godliness?

I remember seeing a reality TV show where a mother was dragging her daughter (who appeared to be about 8) to an expensive, high-end, Beverly Hills tanning salon. According to the mother, the purpose for the visit to assure that the little girl would be, “The prettiest girl in her class” for her school photo. The mother was so intent on this lofty goal that she ignored the objections of her anxious youngster and proceeded to shell out $1,400 for a deluxe, fake, very temporary “tan.”

I don’t know if the mom in that story prays, but imagine her prayers for her little girl?! By contrast, Former U.S. Attorney General and deeply committed Christian, John Ashcroft, shares the following recollection:

Many kids wake up to the smell of coffee brewing or the sound of a rooster crowing. My wake-up call was my father's passionate praying filtering through the house. Sometimes I'd ease downstairs and join him. One knee was usually raised, so I'd slip in underneath, shielded by his body as he pleaded for my soul.

I never caught Dad praying for our happiness. He realized that the pursuit of happiness for its own sake is a frustrating, disillusioning, often futile effort. Happiness usually hides from those addicted to its sugar, while it chases after those caught up in something more lasting than momentary excitement.

I never heard him pray for a bigger house, car, or bank account. Instead, he prayed that our hearts would be ignited and inspired to do things of eternal consequence. "Turn our eyes from the temporal, the physical, and the menial," he prayed, "and toward the eternal, the spiritual, and the noble."

God answers prayer. God answers the prayers of dads and moms. I confess that my wife has probably prayed—like most moms—much more than I have for our kids. And since the Bible says, “The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and wonderful results” (James 5:16, NLT, emphasis added), it’s obviously Wendi’s prayers that have produced the bulk of the results we see in our kids. And so far, I like the results. My kids are on the right track. It inspires me to pray more.

“Then little children were brought to Him that He might put His hands
on them and pray” ─Matthew 19:13 nkjv