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Men of Integrity, Sep/Oct 2001
A Father's Touch
Theme for the Week: Unstuffing Our Emotions
Friday, October 19
Key Bible Verse: When my spirit grows faint within me, it is you who know my way. … Listen to my cry (Psalm 142:3, 6).
Bonus Reading: Psalm 142
The film "Shadowlands" is based on the story of the marriage of C. S. Lewis to Joy Gresham. Lewis, the great British professor and Christian apologist, was more in touch with his head than his heart. He found expressing his feelings to be a demanding challenge.
In the film, we see his wife succumb to cancer. Lewis is left to comfort her young son as well as confront his own grief. There's a scene in which young Douglas Gresham weeps in Lewis's presence. The professor's hand awkwardly hovers above the boy's shoulders, then pulls back. He can't offer physical affection.
Later, he unleashes his pent-up emotions. The old man holds the little boy and they weep together, finding a measure of comfort in their shared loss.
Many men have it exactly wrong. Hugging and physical affection are in no way signs of weakness. A man imparts strength through the gift of touch. Our children deeply need to feel our embrace.
Many of us were never touched by our fathers; that's why we're reluctant and restrained. But to the extent that we withhold physical affection, we withhold the strong affirmation of our love that our kids are desperate for.
—Stand Firm
My Response:
I'd say that, on average, my child receives an affirming touch from me _____times in a week.
Thought to Apply:
Mothers touch children in nurturing ways, fathers in playful ways. But children perceive their father's touch as more nurturing.
—Robert Salt (writer)
Adapted from: Stand Firm (10/00) with permission.
Copyright © 2001 by the author or Christianity Today, Inc./Men of Integrity magazine.
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September/October 2001, Vol. 4, No. 5
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Prayer for the Week |
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Lord, let me grow to be—like David and Jonathan—a whole man: physically and mentally strong, emotionally expressive.
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