TWO FATHERS’ WORDS: Raising Sons to be Proud of
A father was asked on TV to explain why his athletic sons turned out so well. He said he taught them: “To get up early every day . . . to read a page from the Bible and/or from an inspirational book . . . to be clean, well groomed, an attentive listener, and well spoken . . . to choose their friends carefully . . . to get to work a half-hour early and to leave a half-hour late . . . to think, analyze, conclude, know what they know and don’t know . . . to always do the best they can . . . to treat people as they’d like to be treated . . . to ask, believe, and receive the Lord’s support with undoubting Faith . . . to understand that good things will eventually happen if you do these things.” (William Pauwels)
General Douglas MacArthur: “Build me a son, O Lord, who will be strong enough to know when he is weak; and brave enough to face himself when he is afraid; one who will be proud and unbending in honest defeat and humble and gentle in victory.
Build me a son whose wishes will not take the place of deeds; a son who will know Thee — and that to know himself is the foundation stone of knowledge.
Lead him, I pray, not in the path of ease and comfort, but under the stress and spur of difficulties and challenge. Here let him learn to stand up in the storm; here let him learn compassion for those who fail.
Build me a son whose heart will be clear, whose goal will be high, a son who will master himself before he seeks to master other men, one who will reach into the future, yet never forget the past.
And after all these things are his, add, I pray, enough of a sense of humor, so that he may always be serious, yet never take himself too seriously. Give him humility, so that he may always remember the simplicity of true greatness, the open mind of true wisdom, and the meekness of true strength.
Then I, his father, will dare to whisper, ‘I have not lived in vain!’ ” (MacArthur quote provided courtesy of Brian J. Alexander).
Image: http://www.carpelux.net/father-and-son
