"...act like men, be strong" (1 Corinthians 16:13, New American Standard Bible).
This afternoon, Christopher and I were walking the dog. Suddenly, Christopher asked, "Dad, when will I be a man?" Without thinking, I answered, "In about 15 years, I hope."
Realizing that my son had presented me with a great teaching moment, I asked, "Do you know what you will need to do to become a man?" He asked, "What?"
"Well, you will need to be responsible," I said. "Do you know what responsibility is?"
"No," Christopher answered.
"It's doing what you're supposed to do," I responded. "When you feed Bat Dog, you're learning responsibility. You're doing what you're supposed to do for something that depends on you."
I continued, "Being a man also means that you take initiative. Do you know what that means?"
"No," Christopher said, with a little curiosity.
"That means: when you see a problem, you try to solve it without being asked. When you see your books scattered all over the living room, you could take the initiative by picking them up. If you see a kid at school who is upset, you could take the initiative and go see whether you can help him."
"I've never done that before," Christopher remarked.
I smiled and said, "Well, that would be good practice for when you become a man."
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6 comments:
Those moments are wonderful.
That really is a subject to spend time with your son on, "to be a man". I don't think we talk about that anymore. There once was a time when being a man held certain responsibilites. I doubt if many parents talk to young men about responsiblity, courage, dicipline, morality in the context on manhood.
You may be right, Mike. I can't remember any conversations along those lines when I was growing up. By the way, I plan on talking to my son about being a provider, a protector, having courage, and other aspects of manhood in the future. Thanks for the encouragement, brother.
Wonderful indeed.
I enjoyed this post.
I have been spending time as much time as I can teaching my sons to be men of God. I had a dream the other night. I believe God given. I dreamed that God told me that I was going to die soon and so I was trying to tell my sons all that I wanted them to know and be in life. The dream really gave me a reality check. I am striving to be the best dad that I can. I am trying to share and show and give my boys as much as I can. There have been several times over the last 2 year where I have almost died. I want to be ready and them to know how much I love them I want them to have great memories. Yes, I am trusting God with everything in my life. I striving to serve Him with every breath and day that he gives. I want to thank you for this post and allowing me to share this with everyone. I just want my boys to grow up and be godly faithful men.
I remember the word my dad told me when we were having our first son Ethan. My dad said, "Kinney I want you to know that God has given you this child to take care of for Him. You aren't just raising a boy, you are raising a soul. What a responsiblity and challenge for us.
I am so thankful for all the blessing of God especially my family. I am taking the things, blessings that God has given in my life and continues to give in my life extremely seriously.
Kinney,
Thank you for a very moving comment. You put everything into a proper perspective.
Great post! It's always wonderful when we can have these 'spontaneous' talks with our kids.
Yes, it is. Thanks, Christy!
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