Fathers Teach the Children Well

 

Then his father Isaac said to him, “Come near and kiss me, my son.”  So he came near and kissed him.

And Isaac smelled the smell of his garments and blessed him and said,  “See, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field that the Lord has blessed!  May God give you of the dew of heaven and of the fatness of the earth and plenty of grain and wine.  Let peoples serve you, and nations bow down to you.  Be lord over your brothers, and may your mother's sons bow down to you.  Cursed be everyone who curses you, and blessed be everyone who blesses you!”  -- Genesis 27:26-29

Persistence is learned from fathers.

Why would there be a relationship between fathers and the persistence and success of children?  Why did the patriarchs speak a blessing over their sons?  A good father gives his children the sense that he knows what is going on, that he knows what to do, that he can protect and defend them from any threat.  Men, unless it has been beaten out of them, are by nature confident creatures.  Only the confident, possibly only the over-confident, will go up against a wooly mammoth with a sharp stick.  Hollywood and the metrosexual elite can mock us for that all they want.  We are not going to change any time soon. 

Children listen to their mothers, of course, but there is always the sense that Mom is “on your side”.  Dad is more independent in his thinking, more analytical.  We are speaking here in general terms, of course.  Dad is the outward-looking while Mom is the inward-looking.  When our fathers tell us something, we tend to think it is the view of the world at large, perhaps even the view of God.  If our father tells us that we are going to be blessed and succeed in all that we do, we think he is basing that view at least partially on something more objective than mere emotion.

Children with the right attitude toward themselves, those in whom a father has instilled his own sense of confidence will more readily accept challenges and are far more likely to keep trying in the face of repeated failures and struggles.  I would venture to guess that nearly everyone who has succeeded in a tough field had a father or father-figure somewhere along the line say to them, “You can do it.”  Fathers, especially, should speak blessing over their children and encourage them to push themselves and persist in worthwhile efforts.  The Springfield Cardinals – the Double-A clubof the big league Cards – have a player from Hawaii named Kolten Wong.  He’s a five-foot, nine-inch infielder hoping to play second base in the Majors sometime soon.  Kolten believes he will succeed:    

If someone had the same talent as me, I knew I was smarter than them on the field, I knew what to do in any situation. It comes back to my dad and being a young kid and he drilling it into my brain all these things of what to do in different situations.

Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged.  -- Colossians 3:21

Some fathers find it all too easy to criticize, perhaps because they experienced too much criticism and not enough blessing themselves, but the cycle can be broken.  Those of us who no longer have younger children around can still encourage our adult children, grandchildren, and the children of family and friends, speaking positive words into their lives and giving them time and attention.  

I am sure my father did the best he could.  I know that he encouraged me in some things, discouraged me with regard to others.  For the most part, I listened to his implied assessment of my abilities and took it to heart, to my benefit, I believe.  In my own small way, I have fought through some difficulties and achieved a few things.   One of the happiest moments of my life was when Dad sat in the big leather recliner in our family room here, a few years before he passed on.  As he looked around the house, he smiled and said, "I'll bet you never thought you'd have a nice house like this when you were out there buckin' bales."  I laughed and agreed.  I wish I had told him more -- that all I had managed to gain was a result of the tenacity and the ability to endure he had instilled in me.  I think he knew that, but I should have told him in so many words.

Not everybody has been as blessed as I was to have an encouraging, wise and confident father.  Even if our earthly fathers fail us, though, we have a heavenly Father who will not.  He says to us, as He did to Jesus, we are His beloved children in whom He is well-pleased.  He reminds us that we can do all things through Christ who gives us strength.  We can endure, and we will endure.  

Remember your father this weekend, and remember your Father.