Bonus Post: A Father's Love

It's Football In America Day.  I'm in the midst of watching 14 glorious hours of college football games - mostly alone.  My four wonderful boys are wandering through the terrain of their own lives today.  My sweet wife is savoring a calm and quiet day at home.

Today, surfing an un-explainable stream of  consciousness, I stumbled across the work of an ESPN writer, Wright Thompson.  Two articles in particular capture well some of the mystery of the father-son relationship.  (article 1, article 2)

All this prompted me to write a short note to Wright.  I don't know him and he doesn't know me.  But as is my habit, I write to people who inspire me in some direction or another.  I thought the readers of Follow Illustrated might find my comments to Wright interesting:

Nice work, Wright.  Are you a dad yet?  I am.  Four boys ranging from 16 to 26 – on any given day I’m not sure who’s the oldest.  In your writing, you have touched on the key component of fatherhood – anguish.  There is anguish in the day to day.  "Dang it, why did I do that?"  And there is anguish in the decade to decade.  "Have I done enough?  Have I done enough to shape and energize this little life I love so very much?"

You and Les Miles (see article 1) and I live in the shadow of wishing our fathers had seen us at our very best.  That’s the sweet spot of parenting, the payoff pitch.  In reality, we see our kids at their worst, for sure, and only occasionally at their very best.  The trade secret of fatherhood is that we love even when love is not easy.  If we did only love when it was easy, it wouldn’t be love.

I hope and pray that someday, when my kids are at the top of their game, they wish I was there… and remember that I WAS THERE when love wasn’t easy.  

In the Old Testament, the first time the word "love" is used it is in reference to a father's love for his son.  (Genesis 22:2)  In the first three books of the New Testament, the first time the word "love" is used it is in reference to a Father's love for His Son.  (Matthew 3:17, Mark 1:11, Luke 3:22)  In John, the first time the word love is used it is in reference to a Father's love for the whole world.  (John 3:16).

Followers of Jesus thank God for His patient love of His young children.