The Blessings and Worries of Fatherhood

Ahh, Father’s Day! One of my favorite days of the year. To all you fellow Dads out there, I hope you have a great day; I hope you don’t have to mow many lawns or dig many ditches today. Instead, I hope that today you enjoy the blessings of fatherhood!

Did you know that Father’s Day is a fairly new holiday in our national calendar? Mother’s Day has been around for over 100 years, when President Woodrow Wilson established it as a national holiday. But Father’s Day wasn’t established until 1972 by President Nixon.

Maybe some of you will spend some time on this fairly new holiday reminiscing about times you spent with your dad. I know I will! I have some great memories with my Dad, many years ago, watching the Jamestown Expos play baseball in the PONY league. I’ll never forget the time my Dad ran down to the dugout to ask for a bat that had just been cracked by a player and then brought it to me as my own personal souvenir. My Dad passed away about 10 years ago, and I really miss him.

I love being a dad, and I really love being a grandfather. If I knew that Grandkids were so much fun, I would have had them first! There is nothing more fun than watching your grandkids run up to you and yell, “Papa, I love you!”

And yet, being a dad or being a grandfather comes with a tremendous burden. Raising a family, providing for our families and being a good example can be a tremendous joy. But, it can also be a burden. It’s a burden because “with more responsibilities comes more concerns,” right? Such a heavy weight of responsibilities can become insurmountable fears.

Jesus had a message for fathers (and others) when He said, “Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not more valuable than they? Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” (Matt. 6; 25-26, 34).

As a Dad, I often find myself worrying about my children (no matter how old they are) and my grandchildren. Our children bring great joy to us, but they can also bring us heartache. And when we look around at what’s happening in our world, it can be even more overwhelming! I think that we all have a tendency to actually desire to worry about things. Worry is just another form of fear. So often we worry about things that are completely beyond human control.

Worrying is a lifestyle choice that we make every day. Perhaps this Fathers’ Day, we can all take a load off from worrying and let Jesus do the heavy lifting.

Rev. Daniel Soderberg is a graduate of Toccoa Fall College, Trinity Divinity School and North Park Theological Seminary. He is ordained in the Evangelical Covenant Church and serves at Zion Covenant Church and First Covenant Church in Jamestown, New York. He and his wife, Karen, have three adult children, and six grandchildren.