Tuesday, Second Week of Lent

We are Spirit-Guided Sons and Daughters

St. Paul wrote to the Romans:  "(we) received the spirit of adoption, enabling us to cry out, 'Abba, Father!'" (Romans 8:15).  As such we can approach God, the creator of Heaven and Earth not only as one who created us, but also as one with whom we have a relationship.  Each of us is one of the many children of the Heavenly Father.

It really doesn't matter whether or not your biological (earthly) father was one with whom you were intimate.  The tenderness of God the Father should never be limited by what we experienced with earthly parents, but for many that is the case.

Many of us in our 60's had fathers who were emotionally unavailable.  Many of us never heard our fathers say "I love you" because many men who raised children in the late 20th century were not yet liberated.  That generation of men was molded by emotional stoicism.  In many of the families of that time the men had little if any involvement in the physical or emotional nurture of little ones.

When you realize that God the Father loves unconditionally, and completely and with a lush outpouring of care your life changes.  God knows you better than you know yourself.  God forgives even faults that some human parents may hesitate to pardon.

If your earthly father is like that, thanks be to God.  If your earthly father is somebody who challenges your understanding of what it means to be loving try this:  Remember that the same God who claims you as God's child also claims the earthly/biological fathers whose love is thin or unreliable.

Prayer concern:  Relationships between fathers and children.