Ninety-nine years ago this year, a woman heard a sermon on Mother’s Day that gave her an the idea that there should also be a Father’s Day.
Sonora Dodd wanted a special day to honor her father, William Smart. Smart, who was a Civil War veteran, was widowed when his wife died while giving birth to their sixth child. Mr. Smart was left to raise the newborn and his other five children by himself on a rural farm in eastern Washington state.
After Sonora became an adult she realized the selflessness her father had shown in raising his children as a single parent. It was her father that made all the parental sacrifices and was, in the eyes of his daughter, a courageous, selfless, and loving man. Sonora's father was born in June, so she chose to hold the first Father's Day celebration in Spokane, Washington on the 19th of June, 1910.
President Calvin Coolidge, in 1924, supported the idea of a national Father's Day. Then in 1966, President Lyndon Johnson signed a presidential proclamation declaring the 3rd Sunday of June as Father's Day. President Richard Nixon signed the law, which finally made it permanent in 1972.
So, Father’s Day as we celebrate it in 2008 is really not that old of a tradition.
Our culture today has put pressure on families, especially when both parents work two jobs to make ends meet. We do not have to search very far to find fatherless homes. Many families have single moms or single dads. Dads may be the mainstay of the family while mother works at her profession. Society changes and families adjust accordingly.
There are some people who have difficulty celebrating Father’s Day because their earthly father hasn’t “been there” for them.
The good news is this: We all have a heavenly Father who loves us beyond our comprehension. And this heavenly Father is revealed to us in the Bible. Jesus Christ came to reveal the Father to us. In John’s Gospel, the 14th chapter, verses 8-11: “Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”
Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Don’t you believe that I am in the Father , and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or al least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves."
We learn in the Bible that God is a perfectly wise and consistent heavenly Father. (Matt. 6:8). That God is a gracious and providing Father. God is a merciful and forgiving heavenly Father. God is a saving and keeping heavenly Father (John 3:16; John 10: 27-30; Romans 5:8; 1 John 3:1).
On this Father’s Day, it would be wise for every earthly father to have genuine faith in and a loving relationship to the heavenly Father. He is our best model.
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