Be Like Me

I was sitting on the couch talking to Jayden Tuesday while I was checking his homework and he casually mentioned something that all fathers dream to hear from their kids, especially their little men. He leaned over to me while I was looking at his math and said “Daddy, when I grow up, I want to be just like you!”. Of course, my heart melted. I said, “Why would you want to be like me?”, just trying to figure out where he is coming from.. Without hesitation, he said “Because you know how to build things, fix things, help people, and do everything.”. Yes, I LOVED hearing this and it meant so much to hear this coming out of his mouth. Dads should have a dream of hearing things like that from their children.

Although I loved hearing Jayden say he wanted to be like me, his words have really been on my mind a lot over the past two days. I didn’t even mention it to Ashley until last night at church. Why didn’t I mention it? My mind and heart loved that he wants to be like me but the reasons that he wanted to be like me doesn’t exactly represent the father that I need to be. When I asked him why he wanted to be like me, I didn’t hear anything about me being a great Christian father, someone who loves God, loves serving him, loves telling other about him, and loves helping them get to Heaven..The materialistic things in life do not matter. Our children should not want to be like us because we are a good baseball coach or because we know how to do things. They should want to be like us because we are trying to be Christ-like and have a love for our Heavenly Father. The reality check came unexpectedly in a kind, sweet comment from Jayden and although I cherish the reasons he wants to be like me; I need to adjust some things to help get Christ at the top of that list.

Duet 6:7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.