Joseph, The Forgotten.

Little is written about Joseph the carpenter, the father of Jesus. Joseph represents A man of great courage, integrity, obedience, and great faith. These are qualities one should look out for in a man.

Nothing could have prepared him for the route his life took. Let us travel in Joseph’s shoes for a moment.  In his late teens, Joseph fell in love with a maiden by the name of Mary, with the hope that they will get married. I guess they were just like normal teenagers in their time, excited about what the future will be ahead for them.

I bet not in a million years did they think that their lives would change the way it did. Just like you and I today, some of the things we had being or going through, we never thought we would be where we are today. Reality is always different from what we imagined; reality is what we all do, not fantasy.     

One day, just another day, an angel appeared to Mary, from that very moment their lives changed forever. The same angel visited Joseph and told him what was about to happen.

The gist of the story is Joseph will raise a child that is not biologically his. Mary will have to deal with the shame of pregnancy out-of-wedlock.

Even though this story is 2000 years old, it’s a story that a lot of people can relate to. With the exception that it’s not an immaculate conception.

 I wrote all that to say this, we live at a time that there are many divorces, both in the secular world and especially amongst Christians. Divorce is now a dominant subject that the church has to deal with. With the breakdown of families, we have stepfamilies, stepmoms, dads, single parents, and siblings.

It is a well-known fact that mothers are the glue that holds families together. In most cases when divorce happens, the task of raising the children and keeping the family together falls on the mother; there are cases where the father plays the main role too.

Mostly when fathers are spoken off, it’s usually the deadbeat dad that gets the most attention and controversy. The media is full of fathers behaving badly, while am not trying to pretend that this isn’t happening. It’s not everyone’s reality, hence why I want to celebrate the fathers that stayed regardless. I was raised in a loving family albeit not a perfect one (who has one anyway) my father died when I was in my teen and No my mother never remarried and I have never forgotten what a great father I had. When you have a great father it’s easy to assume everyone has a great father too. It breaks my heart when I hear the horror stories out there.

I am married with children and realized what a great task it is to be a parent. I now have a greater love and respect for my late father for sticking at it till death do us part. My greatest appreciation and admiration to my husband who is my constant support, I am grateful to God for blessing our children with a great father that wants to be a father.

Today I want to praise and honor all those fathers that are there daily. Fathers that are raising their own children and fathers that are raising stepchildren.  Any parent knows that dealing with your own biological children can be tough, talk less about raising a stepchild/ren.

All I can say is one better count the cost before getting involved in step relationships. These are not relationships anyone should take on lightly. 

So fast forward you are in this relationship, it’s tough but you are working at it, your love is rejected, you get knockback daily. Every effort you are making is exploited, you are disrespected and abused. You stayed and held on regardless because you love them and want this to work. At the expense of your relationship with your wife, you stick it out. In your own home, you are made to feel like an outsider, after work each day your home is not the first place you’d rather be but you went home regardless. You cling to the hope that one day, one day, just another day, another week, just maybe next year, they will come to appreciate that your love is real and you only are their real dad. You choose to stay even when others would have legged it!

Today I honor all the forgotten Joseph out there, who stayed when things were difficult when you heard more hate than love when all the good you did was thrown right back at you.

Today I say to you that God has a special place for you. God sees all your good deeds. Know that You have changed and shaped the course of the children’s lives forever, for the better. You can not be forgotten, the part that you played in their lives cannot be ever erased.

Just like one day, the angel appeared to Mary and Joseph, One day these children will also be parents, then they will remember how you stayed and endured it all, then they will appreciate, love, and honor you.

And forgotten you will be no more.
Remembered you will be forever.
Talk of you would be
From generation to generation.
Your name will be honored.
Your fame will be a testament.