“What do you expect, he’s just a dumb Swede,” my stepfather would say about me when I, as a little boy, made childish mistakes.
My stepfather, a kind man but inexperienced parent, was impatient with my immature behavior. He loved my mother and so he’d blame my shortcomings on my biological father, whose parents had been Swedish immigrants.
My mother, a Christian Scientist, would lovingly console me. She’d say that my real parent, the source of my life and true father, was the divine Father-Mother, for Scripture says we’re “made in the image and likeness of God” (Genesis 1:27). That doesn’t mean God looks like us, but that we inherit similar thinking, creative powers from the one incredibly intelligent, universal cause of everyone.
On Father’s Day, I am grateful that the spiritual source of our being provides us a world with the nutriment and wherewithal we need. Providence supplies the material needed to create homes that are sheltering and comfortable. From the source, we inherit the intelligence that enables us to understand and apply natural laws that can make life creative and safe.
Because the loving padre’s benevolence gave life, I believe we inherit the fatherly qualities of being kind, supportive and nurturing. Even if one may lack a helpful human father, the missing beneficial paternal qualities still exist. They are in the spiritual source. Also, the fatherly caring one needs might sometimes come from persons of either gender who give paternal affection and compassion.
I find that the more I identify my source with the originating, divine source of being rather than a human parent, the more helpful qualities necessary for successful living appear in my life and ministry.
I am the father of four sons, who lost their mother when the youngest was 4 months old and the oldest was 7 years old. I was challenged to father and mother them. During the years when I was their only parent, I was helped by remembering that the abundant qualities and resources of the great source of life were available to me. With this understanding, I would claim them as my inheritance and benefit from the help they supplied.
After six years of single parenting, I met and married Phyllis, the lovely, unselfish single mother of four children. Thus 39 years ago I became the stepfather of four. We now have 10 grandchildren in our collective family.
Later, over a period of seven years, our home was a short-term haven for 21 kids who needed temporary parenting. They, one at a time, lived with and were fathered and mothered by us until their family, school or community problems were resolved.
In my 62 years of ministering, I frequently have found a need to recognize and share the reassuring truth my mother taught me when I was a child. We are all the children of a caring, wise, benevolent parent who wants us to enjoy security, abundance, health and happiness. We can identify with it as our creator and be open to its bounty.
The Rev. Edgar Peara of Eugene is a retired Unitarian Universalist minister. This column is coordinated by Lane Interfaith Alliance to offer inspiration, share personal spiritual experiences and bring a deeper understanding of individual faith perspectives. For information, visit www.laneinterfaithalliance.org or call 344-5693.