A Father's Day Perspective -- Priceless!

"And the child grew and became strong; he was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him" (Luke 2:40).

Okay, dad, let's be realistic. When it comes to comparing dads with moms, there is no comparison. For instance, consumers are expected to spend $98.34 each year on dad; they spend $139.14 on mom.

Father's Day is most popular in the Midwest (77.1% celebrate), less so in the West (74.4%). Roughly 70 percent of dads will  get a greeting card, according to the National Retail Federation and the Greeting Card Association.

What makes Father's Day so "priceless" is the number of dads in our great country. There are approximately 64.3 million fathers in our nation. An estimated 26.5 million of those dads are married with children under the age of 18 — millions who have the "priceless" opportunity to influence their children and direct their lives properly.

The challenge comes, however, when each dad must decide how involved he will be in his child's life. That decision is "priceless."

When I have an opportunity to participate in a Father's Day service, I like to emphasize three things.

1. Fathering must be intentional. Parenting of any value does not leave the results to chance. Dads must take seriously the development of their family.

2. Fathering must be patient and loving. Dads need to be involved. That means we are called to show love in such a way that our children can model our behavior. Showing love to their mom is a great start — loving them is "priceless."

3. Fathering must be spiritual. For a child to properly develop as a whole person, he or she needs a dad with biblical values, and one who puts into practice his faith. Statistics prove that families with godly dads, in the end, have a better result.

Bottom line: Dad — you're "priceless"!!