Five Facets of Fatherhood

When a young man or not-so-young man learns he’s going to be a father for the first time, a transition commences, the product of which comes to some point of completion the moment his firstborn baby gasps its virgin breath.

Suddenly things begin to change; the concept of responsibility is borne on the mind, and the heart feels tremulous in anticipation of the difficult and wonderful days ahead. A courageous smile is worn on the sleeve, yet the candid man inside cannot help but feel out of his depth.

With the passage of days and years, as they combine and accumulate, learning creates wisdom and, therefore, confidence; this man, born in the Father’s image, was born for fatherhood after all.

But just what goes into building the character of the father charged with the generational responsibility of carrying forward the genome?

There are at least five facets of fatherhood to explore:

1) Eternal Father as model;

2) Father as guide and teacher;

3) Father as a person and leader;

4) Father as lover of his family; and,

5) Father as custodian of the generational genome.

© 2011 S. J. Wickham.