What Makes a Dad Great

Remember how the father [in the parable Jesus told of the prodigal son] acted when the boy returned home?1 Did he run up and sniff his breath to see if he had been drinking? Did he comment on how poorly he had cared for his clothes? Did he criticize his straggly hair and dirty fingernails? Did he inquire about the balance left in his checking account? Of course not. He hugged the boy—the hug of loving acceptance.

This story of a father’s love is immortalized in the Bible primarily, I believe, to tell something of how God accepts us. Should we not consciously use His example in dealing with our children? Can we afford to neglect giving them hugs of loving acceptance each day?

This love is the warm blanket each parent can weave for his or her children—a blanket of love that accepts each child for what he is. Such love is never content to stop assisting the youngster to climb higher and higher toward the plan God has for every life.—Dr. Bob Pedrick

One father is more than a hundred schoolmasters.—George Herbert

When I was a kid, my father told me every day, “You’re the most wonderful boy in the world, and you can do anything you want to.”—Jan Hutchins
Every dad, if he takes time out of his busy life to reflect upon his fatherhood, can learn ways to become an even better dad.—Jack Baker

My father gave me the greatest gift anyone could give another person: he believed in me.—Jim Valvano

[My father] didn’t tell me how to live; he lived, and let me watch him do it.—Clarence Budington Kelland

A man’s children and his garden both reflect the amount of weeding done during the growing season.
—Author unknown

Small boys become big men through the influence of big men who care about small boys.—Author unknown

There’s something like a line of gold thread running through a man’s words when he talks to his daughter, and gradually over the years it gets to be long enough for you to pick up in your hands and weave into a cloth that feels like love itself.—John Gregory Brown

A dad is respected because he gives his children leadership.
A dad is appreciated because he gives his children care.
A dad is valued because he gives his children time.
A dad is loved because he gives his children the one thing they treasure most—himself.
—Author unknown

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1 Peter 5:7 ESV / Casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.

Galatians 2:20 ESV / I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

John 14:16 ESV / And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever,