Tom Wolf in his book the bonfire of the vanities made an elusive observation that men make about their fathers sooner or later… “that the man before him was not an aging father but a boy, a boy much like himself, a boy who grew up and had a child on his own as best as he could out of a sense of duty and perhaps love adopted a role being called a father”. His statement affirms the fact that Your Dad did not come from space. He has someone he calls dad too or someone he once called dad. Dad had received tutorials from his dad about the virtues that he is passing down to you. Dad learnt under the masterly hands of his fathers. You dad had achieved the much he had achieved because he listened to the words of his father. He cared to hear the words of wisdom his dad had given him and he wants you to hear it.
A child that fails to listen to his dad is saying his/her dad had not learnt enough from his dad to teach him. I am sure you know the wise man called Solomon. In all his wisdom, he cared to listen to his dad. You know his dad. David. David himself was also obedient to his dad Jesse too. Your dad received motivation to reach the height he had reached from his dad. He got the training, the pep talks; the picnic talk, the silent scolding’s that made him achieved the much he had achieved.
Helen Roland makes this comments, “a man’s desire for a son is nothing but the wish to duplicate himself in order that such a remarkable pattern may not be lost to the world.” What Helen meant was that there has to be some form of knowledge transferred from one generation to another. Your dad was once a boy under the tutelage of his great dad too; his great dad was once a boy too. They passed generations of training over to you through your dad. What dad is telling you have generations of experience behind it? Whether dad is educated or not, his dad had given him some of the best education your dad would need and dad is saying boy, girl, I learnt this from my dad and he said I should pass this to you. Dad’s words are like his father’s. Sometimes, your dad thinks and wonders how he was when he was like you. As he talks to you, he recollects that the same words he is telling you are what his own dad told him. Dad was faithful to listen and he hopes in your turn as his child, you would listen. There is a master dad, where all the source of information on your training is coming from. He is the Dad of dad’s. He is God. Dad listens to God’s word for direction. God inspires him. Sometimes you may wonder where your dad gets all the wisdom he has. God gave them to him. As a master Dad, God ensures that all his offspring reach the height he wants them to reach. Therefore, he passed his knowledge and wisdom to your great grand dads, then your grand dad, then your dad and now it is being passed over to you.
Your dad was smart; he listened at the feet of granddad. Granddad would have told your dad those stories, dad is telling you now, “the wise tortoise and the fast hare”. Dad loved those stories that his dad was telling him and he hopes you would love the same stories too. The ultimate Dad, God looks on at you with all the gladness in his heart, proud that he gave you a perfect dad just for you. An unknown writer puts it this way “the greatest gift I ever had come from God, I call him Dad”. God wants you to acknowledge this too.
Are you wondering how God speaks to dad? Off course, he speaks to dad in dreams, through a special leading of his spirit and many other ways. Dad knows God has made you great but God has given him the responsibility to make that greatness see limelight. Your Dad wants you to be greater than he is. Your granddad wanted dad to be greater than he was too. Dad achieved this feet and the baton has been passed over to you. Granddad stands now as a coach to dad telling him, “Man, do not fail to ensure John or Elizabeth, Paulina or Paul reaches a greater height” . Dad is cuddling you and steering the wheels of his vehicle to drive to safe land, a great you.
If you do not have a dad, there is someone like a fatherly figure around and God placed him there to act like a father to you. He expects you listen to him. Heed his advice. Follow the pace he is setting. God has placed him around to ensure you do not lose sight on the path to greatness. Your dad would be hoping he was around but he cannot be and God has given you another opportunity, which you must not toil. No matter the situation of life, many persons in our lives are there because God placed them there with the useful virtues, which your dad would have loved to pass across to you if he were around this time. Do not overlook useful words of advice from this personalities for they are the fatherly figures God has place for you to reach greatness. Will you be surprise to know that they know you are great? Sure they do and they want to ensure that greatness see the light of day. They want to share in your greatness.
Remember that man you call dad is the instrument God is using to mold you into that perfect being, that great man and woman. Moreover, dad wants you to know he knows you are great.