Fatherlessness
The call came early on my French morning, late in Colorado. It was a culmination of a long, emotional, and spiritual journey that I had been on with my father for most of my life. Relief. Sadness. Finality. As I said in a text that awful morning to a dear friend, my grief over my dad dying was not as overwhelming at that moment as it might have been, because I had already been grieving his absence for so many years.
He passed away four years ago this month. We moved back to Colorado from Europe six years ago to care for him, as he was suffering from terminal Alzheimer’s and Dementia. After a year of stability in his health, we didn’t even question taking that trip to visit our field missionaries in France. His sudden death was shocking and sad.
Relationships with dads can be so good and so hard and everything in between. Mine was all of the above. I write about the importance of dads for little girls in Cultural Counterfeits. When dads aren’t present, we all lose so much.
Fatherlessness is a massive crisis in our nation, domino-ing into dozens more. We need dads. Kids who grow up without them face higher rates of poverty, hunger, incarceration, self-harm, and the list goes on. How have we become a people who are okay, even expectant, with dads being absent? Why do we say that moms are strong and can do it all on their own?
I’m talking about fatherlessness on today’s episode of All Things from a sociological and spiritual perspective with my friend and author and spoken word poet Blair Linne. We talk about her recent book Finding My Father: How the Gospel Heals the Pain of Fatherlessness. Blair shares her own story and journey to both her earthly father and heavenly Father, while at the same time highlighting America’s fatherlessness crisis. She tells us about the value and importance of dads and what children suffer without the presence of a godly father in their lives. Blair leaves us with plenty of gospel hope, though, as she points us over and over to the all-satisfying presence of our Father in heaven.
It's a nourishing listen. I hope you’ll tune in. Also, get her book. It was so healing for me and I think it will be for you too.
(Originally posted on social media on May 13, 2022).