Lord, please bless our fathers, these men who mean so much to us, who are greatly responsible for who we are and who we are becoming. Bless them for having the courage to do what’s necessary to keep us out of trouble, for making us do the right thing, for helping us build our character, even when it makes us angry; and bless them for pushing us to do our best, even when they just want to love us. Bless our fathers for being our protectors, for leading us through stormy times to safety, for making us believe that everything will be all right and for making it so. Bless our fathers for quietly making a living to provide for those they love most, for giving us food, clothing, shelter and other necessary and not so necessary material things, for unselfishly investing time and money in us that they could have spent on themselves. Bless our fathers, Lord, for saving some energy for fun, for leading us on adventures to explore the outer reaches of ourselves, for making us laugh, for being our playmates and our friends. Bless them for being our secure foundation, our rock, for holding on tight to us...until it’s time to let us go. Lord, bless these men we look up to, our role models, our heroes, our fathers. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.
