I was able to find some information about the origin of our American Father’s Day celebration at a website called dummies.com. (Yes, some days that website seems to fit me quite well.) Around 1900 Mother’s Day celebrations were growing in the U.S. It turns out the idea of Father’s Day happened in a Mother’s Day service on June 20, 1909, when Sonora Smart Dodd felt a desire to make a special day to honor fathers. You see, when Sonora was age 16 her mother died in childbirth. It was her mother’s sixth child. Sonora had five brothers. When her mother died, that left her father to raise her and her brothers alone. Being a single parent in those days was no easier than it is now. Sonora felt her dad, Mr. Smart, did a great job. Her love and respect for her father caused her to feel that he deserved a day of honor like mothers received on Mother’s Day

In 1909–the same year the idea came to her—Sonora went to the YMCA of Spokane, Washington, and the Spokane Ministerial Alliance and asked them to consider making her dad’s birthday, which was June 5th, a day to have a Father’s Day celebration. They didn’t have enough preparation time to make it happen on June 5th, so the Ministerial Alliance decided to use June 19th. Then on June 19, 1910, the first statewide Father’s Day was celebrated in the state of Washington. The custom caught on quickly around the U.S. Other states began observing the special day for dads.

President Calvin Coolidge recognized the third Sunday of June as Father’s Day in 1924 and invited all the states to be a part of it. In 1956, Congress made a joint resolution to recognize Father’s Day. However, it wasn’t until 1966 that a presidential proclamation was issued to recognize the third Sunday of June as Father’s Day. It was issued by President Lyndon Johnson. President Richard Nixon made the celebration of Father’s Day on the third Sunday of June permanent in 1972. Sonora Smart Dodd was able to see her wish come to pass before she died in 1978 after reaching the age of 96.

You probably noticed the long lag between each of the steps toward building a stable Father’s Day celebration. It seems that the work of making Father’s Day an annual official nationwide celebration was a very slow project. I found out why by consulting Wikipedia. Although certain businesses that would benefit from such a celebration tried to help push the establishment of it, the public dragged their feet due to fear that it was merely an attempt to help those businesses reap big profits, as some had from Mother’s Day.

Commercialism did gain great benefits by the establishment of Father’s Day. According to a 2015 article about Father’s Day at ibtimes.com, Father’s Day spending for that year was projected to be $12.7 billion, although way less than Mother’s Day at $21 billion. I don’t think there’s really anything wrong with buying Father’s Day gifts if they bring pleasure to Dad, if they don’t result in reckless spending, and if they’re not a substitute for real devotion. However, a heartfelt message and quality time together is a priceless gift.

Those who have good dads in their lives should be very grateful. Life can be difficult without them. If you are an adult male, perhaps you could help fill the gap in the life of a fatherless child, under the right circumstances. In some cases, financial assistance could be very helpful. I ran across an organization on the internet that may be able to help you set up a mentoring program for fatherless boys in your church. It’s called “Mentor ME Ministries.” Their hope is to not only provide loving father images and role models but to help boys find salvation through Christ and a relationship with their loving Heavenly Father. They provide fun group mentoring activities that always include prayer and Bible study. You will find an e-mail address to contact someone on their website, mentorme.org.

Below is a beautiful song written by Bob Carlisle and sung by Gary Valenciano that may express the thoughts of many Christian dads.

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