Fatherhood

My attitude reflects in my son ... I can see him learning from me daily. In a store last night, I started to get irritated when someone stepped between my wife and I, getting in line a little bit early. This is the same store that I had a major issue with about a month ago, so I wasn't in the greatest frame of mind to being with. This woman noticed me calling Jen (amazingly, it only took calling her about six times, or so) and realized what had happened. Not only did she step back to let me through, but she was pleasant about it and struck up a conversation with Jen and I about Patrick ... This all got me thinking about what Patrick reflects about me ... need to do more thinking on this topic!

Are there good parents, great parents, ... bad parents? I recently saw parents that took their two young daughters to a concert. These two girls were not just bored ... they were in some pain; the music was very loud. Thankfully, one of the security personnel stopped by about half way through the show and dropped off ear plugs for the girls. Were these bad parents? Probably not ... I suspect they made one bad decision (to take the girls to the show) and made it a bit worse (by attempting to stay). Part of me can understand the decisions; the tickets were over seventy dollars each ... but, part of me does not understand the decision to let the cost of a ticket over-ride the health of their kids. Many parents, most likely, fall into all these categories at one time or another. As I am learning, being a parent is not a one-time thing, it evolves and changes over time.

As a father, I need to teach my son that an investment in goodness will never fail him in life. I have learned to invest in the goodness of my wife, my children, and our extended family and friends. The once colorful connotation of the word "good" has been bleached out in a culture where we divide shades of gray and define things absolutely. Good in today's terminology is a good spot in line at the grocery store, behind better and best. The good computer only takes a few minutes to load and we might have to wait thirty seconds to access the Internet ... no smartphone in this category. I always remember Gods assessments of the world he made, "And God saw that it was good." This statement was made over and over again as he stopped to ponder his glorious creation. And finally, he stated, "Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good." God's own creations are good ... very good, and that is enough for me. An investmen...