MANY of us were daddy's little princess, but just how many could also brag that dad built you a castle?
One of my fondest childhood memories is of the tireless hours dad and I spent constructing a papier-mache castle.
Toilet roll turrets, a matchstick drawbridge, windows carefully cut from card, all encircled by a realistic looking moat. The work- in-progress sat on a piece of ply and over months, maybe even years, scraps of newspaper and paste were layered to create this image - straight from a little girl's imagination.
I'm sure there were more pressing matters to be dealt with on our small family farm but my doting dad chose to spend his time on what was really important: his kids. Now dad was never particularly interested in castles and knights in shining armour, but he was certainly interested in my world.
It wasn't so long ago that I rediscovered my castle in one of those huge clean-ups during a move. Strangely, time hadn't faded its appeal. It looked a bit smaller than I remembered it, and there was a thick coat of dust settled across the structure, but it still made me feel like a princess.
Not because I could imagine myself flouncing around a medieval castle with a tiara propped on my head, but because it represented the devotion of a father to his daughter.
Yesterday we celebrated our dads - remembered special times like mine, laughed together, planned life together.
The role of the father is immensely important - something we're realising, if at an excruciating pace. In this year's AskMen survey, 43 per cent of participants said "being a great father and husband who takes care of his family" was the defining characteristic of a "real man" in 2011.
Great. Still some room for improvement, but good all the same.
The latest AustraliaSCAN survey (August, 2011) revealed that 83 per cent of Australians counted a good marriage as the greatest accomplishment. More than anything, we want a good marriage, a good family life.
Unfortunately, that's not always the case. Not everyone has a positive father experience and Father's Day can bring more hurt than joy. Some of us can only remember what our father wasn't.
Fathers are human.
They have a super important role to play, but invariably they will make mistakes. Even the most compassionate father is liable to disappoint.
Which is why there is so much hope, love and peace to gain from our Heavenly Father.
"If your child asks for bread, do you trick him with sawdust? If he asks for fish, do you scare him with a live snake on his plate? As bad as you are, you wouldn't think of such a thing. You're at least decent to your own children. So don't you think the God who conceived you in love will be even better?" Matthew 7:9-11 says (The Message).
God goes one better. Where love falters around us, his never does.
God is everything a father should be, which is why one of his many names is God the Father. Where our earthly father is lacking, God steps in.
"I will be a father to you," he promises (2 Corinthians 6:18). "Though my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will receive me," Psalm 27:10 says.
A father who loves, cares, is compassionate, disciplines as necessary, instructs, guides, encourages, provides, nurtures and forgives.
He is a "father to the fatherless" (Psalm 68:5).
Whatever our flesh-and-bones dad looks like, we all have a heavenly Father worth celebrating.
Email a friend