I don't know much about fathering. It's a role in which you don't get to be prepared to do. You are thrown into it when your child is born. No internship. No OJT. It's one where all you have learnt in life experiences are immediately set in motion. If you don't deliberately think about how you father your child, you will automatically father according to the patterns of the experiences that had defined your life.
I had to be fathered many times by Father God in order to see what He sees and do what He does. I'm not there yet, but I'm still growing and desire to grow in fathering my own child.
Recently, my son struggled with submission. My wife and I felt the change when he moved on to the nursery level where he struggled with the new teacher in charge, for she is more authoritative than his previous teacher. He tried to respond the same way with us at home. We had to talk to him many times to affirm who he is and correct what he said/did. Subconsciously at the back of my mind, I was expecting him to have immediate submission. I was thinking, "He's only 3. If he doesn't learn now, it will be difficult when he grows up."
Last morning, I saw a vision of J sitting on a giraffe and he's trying to reach its head. Then Father God spoke to me, "You are setting an expectation on him which he is unable to reach at this age. Imagine Me expecting you to reach My standard right now or I get unhappy."
God rejoices in me because He sees the value of His beloved Son in me. When I don't meet His standard, He doesn't get into disappointment. He gets ready new appointment for me to succeed. In Christ, I cannot fail. In Christ, I am empowered to learn to see what I have become because of the Cross. God is a happy Father towards me. He is never angry or mad at me. He is mad about me. Therefore, He doesn't focus on what I have missed. He focuses on what I have become in the image of His Son. He celebrates every milestone. He is Love. And love is patient.
If I am called to represent Him, I am called to respond like Him towards my son.
It's a beautiful thing to be fathered by the Father. Because fathered fathers father. #fathering101
