Is God a Good Father?
It's okay to not be in a great place with your "earthly" fathers.
Yesterday was Father’s Day.
And that can bring some baggage for some people.
Thankfully, I have had a great relationship with my dad.
But it wasn’t always like that.
At one point, I really thought my dad loved me but didn’t necessarily like me.
I was convinced that he wasn’t proud of me because I never grew up to be an athlete or into cars or mechanics.
And it was my own baggage of what I thought that didn’t let me get as close with my dad as I have since college.
For some who are reading this, you may not have had a great relationship with your father…
…your dad might have been abusive
…emotionally unavailable
…controlling
…gone.
Which means that praying “Our Father” or seeing me type out “Our Father” every week has you feeling…not so good…
…even if you can’t understand it…
And I am here to say that it is okay to not be okay with God as your father.
God is better than the best father in history. No dad can be a better dad than God.
But God is also described as mother and husband and, arguably, even a bride.
So if calling God by the title of “Father” is a hindrance to your spiritual journey…then I promise you that God doesn’t care if you call God “mother” or “parent” instead.
Because, at the end of the day, it’s your own thoughts and struggles with the term “father” that are holding you back. Not God’s character.
So toss it aside.
And think of God as Mother if you need to.
But, at the same time…I’d challenge you to wrestle with God making the title “father” mean something different to you than the examples you have been given here on earth.
My prayer for today
Our Father, thank you for being the best dad there will be. Thank you for my dad and other father figures in my life. Help me strip away my own issues with calling you Mother or Father or Husband or Bride…and guide me to a more complete relationship with you, God. Amen.
Remember
If you have had bad experiences with fathers in your life, don’t hesitate to call God something else. The important thing is to think of God as someone who would do anything and everything for you, to help you make your life the best it can be, as a good parent would do.