Father's Day

As I wrote in my Mother's Day post, for years, Gordon held a longstanding grudge against his parent's for one simple reason; they weren't perfect.

It wasn't until I reached adulthood (about age 30) that I realized that my parent's, for all their flaws, did the best they could do.

I went to my sister's church one Father's day about five years ago. During the service, the pastor talked about what it meant for a father to be a "leader". Unfortunately, in our Paris Hilton pop culture, we've bastardized the meaning of the word "leadership". Our current culture has it that paternal leadership is oppressive and stifling.

But in the spiritual world, leadership is about being sacrificial. Doing something for the betterment of the familial unit. And in that vain, my father stands next to no one. Time after time, he could have bailed when it would worked better for him but he never did. When Gordon screwed up, badly, it was Dad who was there, not to judge, but to help where he could.

I often speak spiritually in terms of legacies; knowing we cannot be everything for everyone , what legacy will we instill in others that will survive long after we're gone.

Honesty, loyalty and hard work are the qualities my father instilled in me.

So with that I say Happy Father's Day Tom.