Tonight, we pray for the Filipino family on P.U.S.H. Pilipinas.
The Filipino family is in dire need of prayer. This is the stunning truth of the matter: we live in a world where a stunning number of families now live in single-parent households. I praise God for the strength (He gives to/of those) those single parents who sustain their children by themselves, but my heart also goes out to them, because it is a thankless job that is doubly difficult when done alone.
Not impossible, but extremely difficult. It is a situation I wouldn’t wish on anybody, but those people in those situations have my love and respect.
Countless families have parents either separated or working abroad to help their families make ends meet. A generation of children is growing up without a father or mother figure to raise them and teach them the values and virtues needed to grow up in a way that will help them become productive, moral, just members of society. This is not to say that parental absence is tantamount to a child’s becoming a wayward adult, nor is it to say that parental presence is a guarantee of a child’s growing up to become a mighty man or woman of God.
It cannot be denied, however, that the absence of a parent or both in the lives of their children, whether by OFW circumstance or separation because both parents can no longer live with each other, bears stunning repercussions on generations to come.
I grew up with a father and a mother who loved me enough to raise me in a double-parent home. But my father, God rest his soul, was also out a lot; I wouldn’t classify him as an absentee father, but I couldn’t exactly say that he was always there for me, because I don’t remember being with him a lot. I learned how to be a dad – and how NOT to be a dad – from the example of my father and fathers around me, my uncles, and neighbors. But I also saw families without dads, and families with dads who were physically present but emotionally absent.
I literally have to catch myself, because I already see myself becoming like my dad. I don’t ever want my son to say, “My dad wasn’t there for me.” I am already one of the lucky ones, my wife and I are together and very happily so; I can’t speak for those who literally, don’t have dads.
We learn by example, positive or otherwise. If I don’t have any idea of what it’s like to be a dad, I will learn from somewhere else, or I will figure it out on my own. “Okay lang iyan,” I’ll think of how I raise my kid, “kayanin na lang.” How foolhardy of me to chalk up the future of generations of people from my bloodline to something as simple as “okay lang iyan!”
Without taking any dignity away from the parents that do it alone, I will pray for the Filipino families that are complete, to stay complete, and for the single-parent families to receive the kind of example and support of what it means to be a good parent, from those around them. That kind of support can be found in the church.
Tonight, I pray specifically for families without dads, for the sons growing up without ever really knowing what template to use for being a father when their time comes, and the generations of children whose examples of fatherhood will come from those sons. I pray that God will bring them into contact with godly men who will take them under their wings, and teach them about Biblical living, and about godly manhood, and about what it means to find someone and love them even in the difficult times.
Tonight, on P.U.S.H. Pilipinas, we are praying for the unity and salvation of the Filipino family. I will pray they will turn to God for strength and wisdom, that they will remain solid and strong through God’s favor and strength, and not their own, and that the principles taught in the Bible, for moral and civil strength, will one day reign in every Filipino household. I hope you will join us, 11pm, on GMA News.
