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TheDiscipleMD

My wife and I both have the same feeling. We are both proud to be children of the men who we call “Father!” It’s quite a blessing and one that should never be taken lightly or for granted. Even at my age I never tire of being stopped and told how lucky I am to be the son of my father. A few years ago, I was playing first base on a local softball team. The first base coach of the other team said, “Are you Garth’s son?” “Yes, I am,” I replied. “Well,” he said, “Your Dad is a member of my congregation at church, and he often teaches a class. He is a wonderful man.” Then he added, “What would it have been like to have been taught and instructed by him all your life!” Then he added, “You are a lucky man!” I nodded my affirmation, and added, “I have indeed been blessed to have him as my Dad!” Our conversation stopped as the new inning started but as I stood there at my position, my mind wandered back in time to the many occasions when people, upon hearing I was my father’s son, would come up to me and tell me what a ‘great’ man my father was and if I could be half the man he was, I would be extraordinary!

I don’t think I will ever be “half-the-man” my father is, but that doesn’t bother me at all. I’m just grateful that by striving to be like him, I am becoming closer to what I should and could be, and by striving to do so, I can also catch a glimpse of exactly why I am also striving to become like my Heavenly Father. I may never reach Godhood, but the journey to become such, is enriching and enhancing the joy of life and showing me the potential of what I might become!

Not too long ago, before my father passed away, my sister paid my Dad a compliment when she proclaimed that, “He doesn’t just ‘talk the talk’, he ‘walks the walk.” So, I salute every man who ‘walks the walk’ of Fatherhood and who lift their sons and daughters to heights beyond their own greatest imaginations! By blessing the lives of your children, you also bless the nations in which you and they reside! Your influence reaches beyond the grave. You are the pattern by which the understanding of a loving Heavenly Father becomes clear, and your teachings elevate the souls of men and women beyond the heavens, reaching to a divine Father who is real, and who waits for our honorable return!