When God made man, His purpose was to create a copy of Himself. Man was not a mere caretaker of a garden. He was a reflection of the goodness and kindness of the one who made him. He was an image of the first Father of the world.
When a man has children under his care, he becomes the father of his world. Like God, he is intentional about the well-being of these children. He does not leave it to chance. He provides for his children, sacrificing every comfort of his.
With the demands of juggling between keeping a career and home running in our modern world today, fatherhood needs to be intentional now more than ever. The money we chase after is just as important as the people it has to take care of. Of a truth, the more absent a father may be, the more wayward their children may also be.
Having a well-paying job is important. Being a great father is equally important. Balancing the weight of both is more important. Children will regard their father who could not cater to their needs as reckless. On the other hand, they will have no emotional bond with the father who bought them all of life’s luxuries but was always in haste to catch the next flight.
The paychecks pay the bills. However, if we spend all our time chasing money at the detriment of our children, we may spend the rest of our lives paying the debt those children will bring to us. We ought to spend time today so we do not pay the debt tomorrow.
Before the birth of social media, fatherhood was hard. Today, fatherhood has become harder. It takes some intentionality to navigate this path. Every morning a father wakes up, he is competing with social media and the friends of his child(ren) among many others for the attention of his child(ren).
Our children are seeds left in our care. As stewards, every father must be intentional to see to it that these seeds fruit up to be what they were intended to be. Every child is born innocent. It is the environment they are born into that makes them guilty. It is, thus, the responsibility of every parent, especially father, to protect the innocence of their children from all the forces of nature that are a threat to it.
When a father is absent, the family setup is incomplete. A society without fathers is like a soup without salt. Its taste will always be different. When children grow up without a father figure to look up to, they try to figure out life on their own ─ sometimes at the detriment of themselves and society.
A good child is a harvest you will reap. It is a great harvest everyone else will benefit from. In the same manner, you are not the only one who will reap the pain when your child is badly raised. Society will, too.
When a father is present yet absent, he sows a seed everyone eventually pays for. This seed, oftentimes, is delinquency. When a father is alive yet dead in the lives of his children, his contribution to society is sometimes a badly raised child. Thing is, a badly raised child becomes a debt one never finishes paying.
Everyone pays when a child is poorly raised. Such children do not only fall into bad company. They eventually become the bad company. They fight existing systems, desiring that everything happens according to their time. The foundation of the crisis of most social misfits is the presence of a father who was almost always absent.
Raising a child is an intentional effort. It takes some intentionality to raise responsible children. Like a well-watered garden, parents should be intentional about raising children who will take commanding heights in their generation. It should be a carefully-thought-out agenda, not some sort of fluke.
In life, it requires some intentionality to get great things done. A house does not build itself. Cars did not invent themselves. Just as nothing great gets done automatically, children do not just grow to become responsible adults. Parents need to be intentional about molding these children into the adult they become.
A father is like a farmer. He does not only sow the seeds. He is intentional about his efforts to see those seeds come to fruition. The seeds of a farmer mean the world to them. Similarly, our children are our world. When we mentor them to shatter life’s ceilings, we can someday sit back and be proud of nurturing the maximum potential on their inside.
A child is a gift from God to you. How you raise them is a gift from you to society. Each day, we are preparing these gifts for society. Once a while, we need to ponder and ask ourselves if we have done our best. We need to reflect and be certain that we have raised our children well enough to solve society’s problems and not to add on to the problems of society.
Live like a teacher. As a father, be conscious about raising your children. Teach them to buy their future even if you can afford to buy it for them. Teach them independence. Let them know no one owns them anything in life. Teach them about finances. As much as possible, be the example they should learn from. Above all, teach them about God. Without Him, they are nothing.
Every parent is a teacher. Intentionally or unintentionally, they are teaching their children how to live their future. A child prepared for the future can buy their future with or without their parents. When we equip our children to lead themselves, they will take the right decisions when we are no more with them.
Every child is a walking solution to a challenge in society. They are an investment. Good parenting secures this investment. As fathers, we may not be always present in the lives of our children. However, our daily efforts can always present.
Pat yourself on the shoulders. Be encouraged. You are doing a good job as a father. Happy Father’s Day!
The writer is a playwright and Chief Scribe of Scribe Communications (www.scribecommltd.com) and Scribe Productions (www.scribeproductions.com).
