Happy Father’s Day! — to all dads and all men who, though childless, act as fathers by mentoring and caring for others.
Without your love and hard work providing a roof over our heads, clothing on our bodies, food on the table, and teaching us by word and deed, we’d be lost.
Thank you for being role models of what a real man really is.
Father’s Day Prayer
by Joanna Fuchs
Lord, please bless our fathers,
these men who mean so much to us,
who are greatly responsible
for who we are and who we are becoming.
Bless them for having the courage
to do what’s necessary to keep us out of trouble,
for making us do the right thing,
for helping us build our character,
even when it makes us angry;
and bless them for pushing us to do our best,
even when they just want to love us.
Bless our fathers for being our protectors,
for leading us through stormy times to safety,
for making us believe that everything will be all right
and for making it so.
Bless our fathers for quietly making a living
to provide for those they love most,
for giving us food, clothing, shelter
and the other material things that really matter,
for unselfishly investing time and money in us
that they could have spent on themselves.
Bless our fathers, Lord,
for saving some energy for fun,
for leading us on adventures
to explore the outer reaches of ourselves,
for making us laugh,
for being our playmates and our friends.
Bless them for being our secure foundation, our rock,
for holding on tight to us…until it’s time to let us go.
Lord, bless these men we look up to,
our role models, our heroes,
our fathers.
In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.
Sadly, too many fathers in American today are mere sperm donors.
The number of children living in single-parent homes has nearly doubled since 1960, according to data from the 2010 Census.
The percentage of two-parent families has dropped significantly over the past decade in all 50 states. Even as the total number of American households with children increased by 160,000, the number of two-parent households decreased by 1.2 million.
Today, one-third of American children – a total of 15 million – are being raised without a father. Nearly five million more children live without a mother.
If fathers shape our souls, what does that say about the souls of the 15 million children?
~Eowyn
