June is the month of Father.s Day! The idea for creating a day for children to honor their fa-thers began in Spokane, Washington. A woman by the name of Sonora Smart Dodd thought of the idea for Father's Day while listening to a Mother's Day sermon in 1909.

Having been raised by her father, William Jackson Smart, after her mother died, Sonora wanted her father to know how special he was to her. It was her father that made all the parental sacrifices and was, in the eyes of his daughter, a courageous, selfless, and loving man. Sonora's father was born in June, so she chose to hold the first Father's Day celebration in Spokane, Washington on the 19th of June, 1910.

In 1926, a National Father's Day Committee was formed in New York City. Father's Day was recognized by a Joint Resolution of Congress in 1956. In 1972, President Richard Nixon established a permanent national observance of Father's Day to be held on the third Sunday of June. So Father's Day was born in memory and gratitude by a daughter who thought that her father and all good fathers should be honored with a special day just like we honor our mothers on Mother's Day.

God knew that we needed mothers and fathers. In a world where many are trying to blur the differ-ences between the sexes, it is appropriate to point out that there really are unique gifts that come from mothers and fathers. God also wants you to know the love of a Christian father so that you can better understand his nature and the way he has revealed himself to us as our Heavenly Father. Consider the characteristics of a Godly father in the following poem by an unknown author.