The cat's in the cradle

Dear Friends

Surely most people must have been moved by Gordon Brown’s farewell speech outside Number 10, whatever their political allegiance. There was one phrase that will stick with many people: “As I leave the second-most important job I could ever hold, I cherish even more the first – as a husband and father.”

So many men with somewhat less important jobs have ended up sacrificing their rôle as husbands and fathers for the sake of their career.

There was a song written in the 70s called ‘The cat’s in the cradle’. I don’t remember ever hearing the music but I read the lyrics quoted by Dr James Dobson who wrote some very helpful books around that time on a Christian approach to family life.

My child arrived just the other day

He came to the world in the usual way

But there were planes to catch and bills to pay

He learned to walk while I was away

And he was talking’ ’fore I knew it, and as he grew

He'd say “I'm gonna be like you dad You know I'm gonna be like you”

And the cat’s in the cradle and the silver spoon

Little boy blue and the man on the moon

When you comin’ home dad?

I don't know when, but we'll get together then son

You know we'll have a good time then…

But the time never came, and the song ends with the father, older and lonelier now, longing to see his grown-up son. But now he’s too busy.

It is a powerful thought, as your children grow up, that you will never have these years again. And yet there are demands to spend time making a living with all the demands that that imposes.

It’s Father’s Day on June 20th. It’s not just about sons and daughters getting a card for Dad—it could also be about praying for husbands and fathers to appreciate the importance of the job that they have as husbands and fathers, and asking for God’s help for them to make priorities of the things that they really believe are the most important matters in life.

Yours sincerely,

Stephen Bowen