Your Leadership Link by Cullen S. Gibson
As Father’s Day Approaches
The History of Father’s Day dates to 1910 in Spokane, Washington. 27-year-old Sonora Dodd proposed the day to honor the man (a civil war veteran William Jackson Smart) who raised her and her five siblings alone after her mom died in childbirth. Dodd was at a church thinking about how grateful she was for her father when she had the idea for Father’s Day. She felt the day should mirror Mother’s Day but be celebrated in June, her dad’s birthday month. A bill to nationally recognize the holiday was introduced in Congress in 1913.
The holiday gained popularity during World War II, with most men leaving their families to fight in the war. In 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson proclaimed the third Sunday of June to be 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 brings a wide range of emotions for many. Becoming a new father to your firstborn brings extraordinary joy and an immense sense of responsibility in being a future home leader, provider and protector. Watching an elderly father pass away who was a great “dad” can bring a huge sense of loss of a lifelong friend.
Whatever your life situation may be on Father’s Day, stay encouraged! We have a Heavenly Father as Sonora Dodd had an earthly father that took her and her siblings in the worst of times. The difference with our Heavenly Father is He will never leave us (death) or forsake us!
Enjoy this summer week!