Fatherhood: an Eternal Partnership

         "When does a joke become a Dad joke? When it becomes apparent!"

    Best Father's Day wishes to all the men and I hope you enjoy your Father's Day gifts whether they be new ties, #1 Dad mugs, cargo shorts, nose hair trimmers, or bulky white foam reebok sneakers. You deserve it all!

    Because we have a Father in Heaven and we are His children, Satan has made it his number 1 goal to destroy the family in any way possible. That has been his goal from the beginning. We read in Moses 5:18 about how Satan influenced Cain into making an improper offering to the Lord. Cain chose to offer the fruit of the earth to the Lord rather than the requisite sacrificial lamb. Satan convinced Cain that he could choose whatever he wanted to be the sacrifice. This improper offering resulted in Cain being more angry at the Lord and further disconnected from his family. Verse 27 we learn that Adam and Eve mourned greatly because of Cain and his brethern. We know from that verse that Cain's decisions are not only affecting himself but also the brethren he was influencing. Later in verses 29 and 30 we read exactly how Satan lays his traps:

    "And Satan said unto Cain: Swear unto me by thy throat, and if thou tell it thou shalt die; and swear thy brethren by their heads, and by this that thy father may not know it; and this day will deliver thy brother Abel into thine hands.

    And Satan sware unto Cain that he would do according to his commands. And all these things were done in secret."

    Satan makes them swear to secrecy(and we know that friends don't make secrets and secrets don't make friends) and the brethren that followed Cain are also sworn to secrecy, even unto death and then Satan makes the most important caveat, "and this that thy father may not know it". In other words, DON'T TELL YOUR DAD. Why was it so important that Cain not talk to his father? Because Adam would have talked Cain out of it. Adam loved his sons, even when his sons were making poor choices. But therein lies the rub, Adam, like a good father, would have stopped Cain and helped him work out his problem. There is no such thing as too late but Satan knows if we believe enough of his lies, we will isolate ourselves from the people who love us the most. Satan loves to flatter and then make you feel isolated, as we see here in verse 31:

    And Cain said: Truly I am Mahan, the master of this great secret, that I may murder and get gain. Wherefore Cain was called Master Mahan, and he gloried in his wickedness.

    We know the end of this story. Cain is trapped by Satan's lies. Cain and his followers were cast out and continued to live in wickedness. 

    We can contrast this story with Genesis 22, the story of Abraham and his much longed for and much prayed for son, Isaac. The son that he and Sarah had hoped and prayed for until they were both very old. In verse 2 we read, 

    "Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land or Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of."

    So God is asking Abraham to sacrifice the most important thing, the long awaited son, Isaac. And what does Abraham do? The most dad-like thing ever, they get up early the next morning for the road trip with plans to carry out this sacrifice. How great is the faith of Abraham, he just packs up his travel gear and does this. There is no verse describing any anguish in this decision but I'm sure there was. They do travel for 3 days to the place of sacrifice so he certainly has a lot of time to think and anguish this decision over too. 3 days to think of any way out. Verse 6 states, 

    "And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together."

    In our modern day perspective, Abraham has laid out all the evidence for a murder crime scene. Isaac even asks at this point, "Dad, you've got all your tools, where's the lamb?" Do you think Isaac is starting to sweat it at this point or does he trust his father's faith in the Lord? Abraham responds, "God will provide himself a lamb for the offering" and they continue toward the altar that Abraham had built. Things even progress to the point that Isaac is now tied up and laying on the altar and Abraham has his knife in hand. Only then, at the pinnacle of Abraham's faithfulness does an angel appear and the ram in the thicket is revealed. What do we learn about the Father's love at here? This feels like a very tricky math problem. How do we show the utmost love for our children? We show the utmost love for our children by following the commandments of the Lord. As we read this account, how many of us were devising getaway plans so that Abraham wouldn't have to sacrifice his son? Of course! Absolutely! But, the Lord asks for the most personal sacrifices. We will all have at least one Abrahamic test in our lives. However, if we are faithful there is always a ram in the thicket. We can contrast this with Cain's improper sacrifice of giving what he wanted to give rather than what he was asked to give. Because of this Cain spent the rest of his days in wickedness and misery. Abraham and his posterity were promised great things because Abraham loved the Lord the most. Genesis 26 verses 3,4,5:

     "Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee; for unto thee, and unto thy seed, I will give all the countries, and I will perform the oath which I sware unto Abraham thy father;

    And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto they seed all these countries; and in they seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed;

    Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statues, and my laws."

    Satan is even busier in our modern times, trying to destroy families and turn children away from their fathers. While the Lord has fulfilled his promise to Elijah to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, Satan has devised new tricks to diminish and make obsolete the paternal and patriarchal role. Oftentimes we hear the phrase, "smash the patriarchy" in an effort to call out injustices that have been perpetuated against women. Consider this, if we smash the patriarchy, we are also smashing the matriarchy, as the patriarchy and matriarchy are an eternal partnership. We have a Heavenly Father so there is no doubt there is a Heavenly Mother. 1 Corinthians 11:11 reads, "Nevertheless neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord." When we remove the phrase, "in the Lord," therein lies the destruction of the family. Should we work to put an end to unfairness against women and children in this world? Absolutely. The reality is is that's it's not the patriarchy that is the problem. It's the removal of the Spirit that leads to unrighteous dominion. The Father of all Lies would have us believe we are better off without mothers and fathers rather than repairing and improving the roles and inviting the Spirit into the relationship of fathers and mothers. Consider a pair of scissors. Are both blades exactly the same? No! But each blade compliments the other. Each blade is sharp, each blade has a handle, each blade is cut to fit tightly with the other in order to pull the paper evenly and create a precise cut. If we took the two blades apart and tried to cut paper with each blade independently, there would be no joint mechanism to the pull the paper forward and you would have a big mess of paper and a jagged mess of a finished project. This is in direct conflict with the ways of the Lord. Our attempts at righteousness often feel muddled and messy, but as we strive to become like our Savior Jesus Christ, "He will fill every valley, He can make crooked things straight, He can make rough ways smooth." (Luke 3:5)

    I'll close with an anecdote from my personal life. Herschel has been playing on a T ball team this spring. It's started out on the wrong foot and has been pretty close to a disaster a few times. It wasn't well organized and none of the coaches had any baseball experience or coaching experience and we were struggling to have proper equipment or even get most of the parents to show up. There was no leadership and everyone felt overwhelmed by the task. It was mostly a few moms and a bunch of unruly kids. I'm the first person to say a mom is as equally qualified to coach a baseball team as a dad, so do not misinterpret my meaning. What changed is several of the dads started showing up to games to assist the moms. We went from the Bad News Bears, to one of the better teams in the league simply because our kids were getting plenty of support. We had a parent at every base. We had a huge cheering section of moms and dads who were cheering for each child by name. We had a dad who took over the role of batting coach. We had a dad who took over the role of pitching coach. We had a mom in charge of the batting lineup. We had a mom making sure every kid was running at the right time. Our most recent game was borderline magical because our team was significantly more confident. Our team almost looked like they were playing baseball! I know it was because our kids felt like they were a priority. 

    Heavenly Father's plan has always told us we are His priority. He gave each one of us the sacred role of the Mother and the Father, whether we bare children or not. Elder Jeffery R. Holland said, "Dads, is it too bold to hope that our children might have some portion of the feeling for the that the Divine Son felt for His Father? Might we earn more of that love by trying to be more of what God was to His child? In any case, we do know that a young person's developing concept of God centers on characteristics observed in that child's earthly parents."

    I close thinking of my own father and so grateful to his dedication to the gospel and my husband who is a father and the partnership we have together in raising our children. Nothing brings us closer together and more dependent on the Savior Jesus Christ, who did His Father's will, than our roles as mother and and father of our home.