While at the All Pro Dad Experience, we were all given a gift bag with several items in it. Arguably the most valuable thing was a book entitled “The Difference A Father Makes” by Ed Tandy McGlasson. I sat down yesterday to read it and was caught by something I read.

An involved father can make all the difference in a child’s life. His love and care can be the deciding factor in helping a young one become who he or she was created to be. When our hearts are filled with security and trust in a dad who loves us we stop living for our father’s approval and begin to live from his approval. Out of our assurance of his unending love and commitment, we’re enabled to become the person we were created to be and, in the process, bring pleasure to our dad.

I was captured by that in two aspects. First, it was a reminder that I must create a culture in our home where my children believe and know they are living from my approval and not for it. They had my love and security the day they were born. Secondly, I need to live from that approval with regards to our Heavenly Father. As Ed said, it would enable me to become the person I was created to be.

One other quote from this insightful book I had to share. So often we sit in the stands and cheer our kids on. They seek that approval and need to know that we are cheering as loud in their failures as we are in their success. With that in mind, I close with a question from the book:

“When you are on the field of life, who are you looking for in the stands?”

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