0
0
This last Father’s Day was one of the best yet. Lots of quality time with the family, and such good food. The reason I share this isn’t to brag, but because of something I realized in the afternoon when I took some time to pray.
I was feeling so loved when I sat down to pray because of all the things my wife and children did for me so far. They honored me as a father – a very imperfect one – by doing things that I enjoyed doing (and making things I enjoyed eating – spoiler alert: I ate way too much).
But what made it feel extra special and made me feel so loved was that I didn’t feel like any of it was done out of obligation.
It just felt like they wanted me to feel appreciated and loved.
And I realized that’s all God wants us to do.
He is the perfect Father (whether we are able to admit that or not), and deserves our love and appreciation. And what’s great is that He has told us how to show Him that love. Spend time in prayer. Go to Mass. Serve the poor. Love others (and behave accordingly). What’s not great is that we all too often want to do the bare minimum, and even when we do it we do so begrudgingly. We do it out of obligation and we sometimes make sure God knows it. We keep trying to reason why we don’t need to actually do those things as often and that we’re too busy.
If my kids (really, my wife) said she was too busy to celebrate Father’s Day, I would’ve understood and been good with it (a little bummed), and of course I know she still loves me. If my kids were dragging their feet as they were doing things, it would’ve been nice and I would’ve appreciated that they were doing their best, but also annoyed that showing my their love was such a burden.
But that immense feeling of being loved and appreciated that I experienced? That would’ve been missing.
And doesn’t our God deserve that?
