Father's Day History

Happy Father’s Day! I never have looked into the history of Father’s Day, so, on a whim I Googled Wikipedia for some information and was very surprised at what I discovered. As an official holiday, Father’s Day is a celebration that almost never was. The day had its humble beginning in Spokane, Washington June 19, 1910 spurred on through the efforts of Sonora Smart Dodd as a complementary day to Mother’s Day. She wanted a celebration to honor fathers like her own father, William Smart, a Civil War veteran who was left to raise his family alone when his wife died giving birth to their sixth child. Sonora suggested her father’s birth date, June 5th to establish as a day to honor all fathers. In spite of great support, Father’s Day ran the risk of disappearing from the calendar. Where Mother’s Day was met with enthusiasm, Father’s Day was often met with laughter. Slowly, the holiday grew, but for the wrong reasons. It was the target of much satire, parody and derision, including jokes in local newspapers. Many people saw it as the first step in filling the calendar with mindless promotions. (Ridiculous to even think such a thing would happen!) A bill to accord national recognition of the holiday was introduced and rejected by Congress in 1913. In 1916 President Woodrow Wilson, went to Spokane to speak in a Father’s Day celebration and wanted to make it official, but Congress again resisted, fearing that it would become commercialized. (Ha!) President Calvin Coolidge recommended in 1924 that the day be observed by the nation, but stopped short of a proclamation. In 1957, Maine Senator Margaret Chase Smith wrote a proposal accusing Congress of ignoring fathers for forty years while honoring mothers, thus singling out one of two parents. In 1966, President Lyndon Johnson issued the first presidential proclamation honoring fathers, designating the third Sunday in June as Father’s Day. Six years later, the day was made a permanent national holiday when President Richard Nixon signed it into law in 1972. Father’s Day is celebrated in countries throughout the world, in many different ways, some official and some not. Commercialized? Yes, but with sincere love and honor.
One summer evening during a violent thunderstorm a mother was tucking her small boy into bed. She was about to turn off the light when he asked with a slight tremble in his voice, “Mommy, will you sleep with me tonight?” The mother smiled and gave him a reassuring hug. “I can’t dear”, she said, “I have to sleep in daddy’s room.” A long silence was broken by the boy’s shaky little voice, “The big sissy!”
A father is one who gives his daughter away to a man who is not nearly good enough, so they can give him the best grandkids there are anywhere.
It used to be that fathers dealt out a stern code of discipline to junior. Then the electric razor took away his razor strap, furnaces took away the woodshed, and tax worries took away his hair and the hairbrush. That’s why kids are running wild today. The dad’s of the world have run out of disciplinary tools.
[John 14] Jesus talks with his disciples about his departure from this world. Jesus reassures his followers that his father is also their father if they obey his commands. “If you love me you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever – the Spirit of Truth.” God the Father will supply our every need. “…He who loves me will be loved by my Father … (v21).