From the Heartland
My oldest son goes around the country speaking and leading workshops about how people might cope with the pressures and demands of life. Many of his presentations are for police officers. The last several years he has found that many of them are under tremendous pressure from a variety of sources. It is no wonder that so many are leaving the profession and the suicide rate is so high among officers.
Carl also has a daily podcast – The Pilgrim’s Odyssey: Toward The Splendid Glory. On his June 4 podcast he shared a note that a police officer shared with him. The officer carried it around in his pocket. The note said: “Is this helping my child become the self-supporting, healthy, mature adult that I want him to be?” Every time the officer reached in his pocket and touched the note he was reminded that he was a role model for his child.
As I was listening to my son read the officer’s note on his podcast I had two thoughts. First, I need to think about the example I am setting for children, grandchildren, and any children I happened to meet. My son quoted from Titus 2:7, 8: “Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teachings show integrity, dignity, and sound speech that cannot be condemned, so that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us.” There is truth to the old saying “Like father, like son.” A major factor as to how our children respond to the world is the role model their parents provided.
I think that it is interesting that the quotation from Titus ends with the word “us.” Not only does our behavior provide a role model for the next generations, it gives others an impression of the groups and organizations to which we belong and associate. The author of Titus was reminding his readers that their behavior was a reflection on all Christians. Unfortunately, people were more likely to make this connection when a person’s behavior was less than acceptable rather than when it was a model of good works.
In Proverbs we read, “Train children in the right way, and when old, they will not stray.” (Prov. 22:6) For the police officer, the right way involved being self-supporting, healthy, and mature. In its present form the Book of Proverbs was a manual for boys going through their bar-mitzvah. The book outlines from the Hebrew perspective what it understands to be the right way. In other societies and cultures we can find community standards of what they understand to be the right way.
My second thought when I heard my son sharing the police officer’s note was what were the expectations and hopes that I had for him and his two brothers when they were growing up? For me an essential element of the right way is being a responsible and caring Christian. This involves becoming the unique individual that God had created each of them to be and that they would find expression for their gifts and graces that would bring a sense of fulfillment.
Father’s Day is a good opportunity for all men to pause and consider the kind of role model they are providing for the next generations. What expectations do they have for their children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews, the kids next door or the youngsters that are a part of the church they attend? Are these children learning these the expectations by example they give?