When I was growing up, Father's Day was a day when we paused and reflected to say thanks to my dad, who made small and large sacrifices.
As I first started in ministry as a United Methodist clergy, my perspective began to broaden, and I began to realize that this day of Father's Day is both joyful and a day to reflect.
For some it's a great day to remember or to enjoy being a dad, and for others it's a day to reflect and remember fathers or father-like figures who may have passed away. And, even for some, children who may have passed away during this past year.
What I love about God who we serve, and what I love about being a dad and a pastor at the same time is that Father's Day is both. It's both joyful, and a time of reflection, because God created us to be rich and complex to have our stories be interwoven with times of great happiness and times of great sadness. And yet, in all of us, in all of these times, in all of the ways that God has truly wired us, God meets us exactly where we are.
As a dad of three little girls, ages 3, 2 and 2, I know that there are both times where I can celebrate making the right choice and being a person full of passion and grace to them. There are also times where I make mistakes, and I lose my temper, or I'm less than the ideal father that I want to be for them. And yet, in all of this, it's wonderful to know that each and every day I get to grow just as they get to grow. And as a family, we learn and grow together.
May God bless you as you celebrate this day whatever it means for you. Whether it be for your father, a father-like figure, whether it may be for you to be a dad, or maybe to be a dad someday, or to be a father-like figure to someone else.
May this be a day that is less about one or the other, joy or sadness, and more about the rich complexity that God calls us to be. In all of this, may you be blessed.
*Del Rosario is senior pastor of Bothell (Wash.) United Methodist Church. Follow him on Twitter @pastordj or on YouTube at pastordjtv.
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