I start here. I was terrified of my dad. As a child, yes, he was my protector. But I never felt safe with him.
It took me a long time to understand that my dad and I are the same person:
- Sometimes, he lost his temper. Sometimes, I lost my temper.
- Sometimes he didn’t understand me. Sometimes I didn’t understand my own children.
- I sometimes misinterpreted his actions and misunderstood his motives. My own children have sometimes misinterpreted my actions and misunderstood my motives.
Into this tangled up journey of understanding my own father and learning to honor him, has come a connected journey: understanding the father heart of God.
So, who is He? Who is this Father who towers above all other fathers?
Is He interested purely in controlling our behavior—getting us to obey? Is He disgusted with our failures? Does He regret forgiving us of our sins? Is He unhappy with us? Are we a nuisance to Him?
I once believed all those things. Learning to unlearn those things has been my journey, and I’ll share snapshots of that over the next three blog posts.
Dwight
PS. On May 18, the Inner Wealth topic will be neutralizing unpleasant emotions. We’ll talk about where unpleasant emotions come from, two categories of unpleasant emotions, and step-by-step tactics you can take to return to peace and joy.
