Hebrews 10:24 – “And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works.”

It’s in the pages of the Bible that readers first meet Mordecai—a man living in a foreign land, carrying the weight of his people’s survival on his shoulders.

He didn’t set out to raise a warrior, nor did he expect to shape royalty. All he knew was that Esther needed a home. She was his cousin by blood, a fellow Jew in Persia—exiles in a kingdom that was never truly theirs. After her parents died, he took her in, gave her a place at his table, and called her his own.

The young Jewish girl grew up with questions—about God, about suffering, about why other girls had parents to tuck them in at night and she didn’t. Mordecai did not always have the answers, but he listened. He told her what he knew to be true: that she was not forgotten, that she was made with purpose, and that her life would matter, even when it didn’t feel like it did.

Then came the day they called for all the young women. The king was looking for a new queen. And Esther—his Esther—was taken.

Mordecai could not stop it. He could not follow her inside. All he could do was pace the outer court and pray she would remember who she was when the world tried to tell her otherwise. And she did.

She remembered.

When the fate of their people hung in the balance, Esther stood before the king as a woman of courage. Every day, Mordecai stood right outside the gate so she would know she wasn’t alone. He stayed because he had seen too many young people lose their way, and he refused to let her be one of them.

And I think that is why this story matters.

Because every one of us—father figures, mom, mentors, and friends—carries a voice that shapes identity. Do not underestimate the strength it takes to stay, to believe, and to remind someone of who they truly are when the world tries to define them otherwise.

This Father’s Day, whether by birth or by choice, may we all remember the power of showing up. One day, those we’ve poured into will stand tall, and it will be our steady love that helped them rise.