This past Saturday, Valentine’s Day, was an opportunity for many of us dads to be creative and express our love to our wife and/or our children in a fun, special way.

Some dads used the My Wife Journal and took their wife out on a special romantic date. (If you didn’t take advantage of this tool, it’s a great little guide to use on any date with your wife!)

If you were one of these dads, my hat’s off to you!

At our home, we baked “heart cookies” and gave small gifts and personally-written cards to one another over a leisurely Saturday morning breakfast.

That evening, I took my wife out for some one-on-one time, shopping for her, and we sat down over dessert to discuss much-needed vision for our family and our future.

If you did something that was especially meaningful to your wife and/or your children on Valentine’s Day, why not share it with the rest of us and encourage a bunch of other dads?! If you used the My Wife Journal, tell us how it went!

Write up your story and email it to me. If I select yours to share with the FamilyDads list, not only will we all get to read your great story, but you’ll also win a copy of Todd Wilson’s excellent book, Father Power, compliments of DadResources.com. (This book is one of my most favorite of all books for dads to read!)

Also, I just received permission to post an audio online of a message that was recently given regarding this year 2009 that I think will be a tremendous challenge and encouragement to you as it relates to your faith and your finances. I’ll share the link to the audio later this week!

Did you see the outcome of Proposition 8 on the California ballot last week?

52.3% of the voters told their state government that marriage in California should remain consistent with thousands of years of civilization’s history… between a man and a woman.

Not surprisingly, this has stirred up a hornet’s nest of opposition, protesting, and new legal challenges from those who want homosexuality to be legally endorsed.

So what does this have to do with us family dads?

Actually, a lot.

Perhaps most important is a reminder of the masculine love our sons need from us as their dad, and the wounds that can go deep into their soul when they do not receive it from us.

In John Eldredge’s wildly popular book, Wild At Heart, which he wrote to help men heal from the wounds of our past and discover the secret of our souls, he says that what is missing in the hearts of those who are homosexual is masculine love, but the problem is that they’ve sexualized it.

Eldredge references Joseph Nicolosi who says that homosexuality is an attempt to repair the wound by filling it with masculinity, either the masculine love that was missing or the masculine strength many men feel they do not possess.

Sons can carry deep wounds in their hearts from fathers through our hurtful words, our neglect, abandonment, abuse, lack of attention and affirmation, our workaholism, our failure to validate their own masculinity…

All of which communicates to them… “I as your father do not love you. I am not proud of you. You are not worth my time, attention, and resources.”

Let me encourage you today, dad, to express your love to your son often. Affirm him. Encourage him. Spend time with him.

Even if he is difficult to love.

Teach him by your example and your words what it means to be a man — a man who loves God, loves his family, and loves people.

He desperately craves your masculine love.

Blessings to you and your family,
Joey Watkins
Founder, FamilyDads

PS – If you have not read Wild At Heart, it has excellent insights for us men and is highly recommended. It’s on sale right now at www.DadResources.com