keys

Today we talked about how as fathers, we hold the keys to our children's doors. Those doors can be good or bad. We have to have the wisdom to unlock the good ones and lock the bad ones. 

The relationship with the father is one of the most important relationships we can have on this earth. The view we have of our father leads us to make many decisions in our futures. 

The older I get, the more I appreciate the way my dad raised me. He kicked my butt when I was wrong and encouraged me when I did good. He praised progress and didn't ask for perfection. He let me know that I am responsible for my own decisions and my actions have consequences. 

Some of the doors my dad unlocked for me are: integrity, hard work, sacrifice, gratitude and honesty...  I will always hear him say "do it right the first time and you won't have to go back and do it again", "take a little more time and do it right", "if you say you're gonna do it, do it!" - just to name a few. 

He unlocked those doors by going thru them himself. It is one thing to say to do things but I got the honor of seeing them lived out. I saw him get up before the crack of dawn and work hard so I could have stuff I probably didn't even appreciate. 

My point: you are unlocking and locking doors for your kids. You need to be intentional about it. I can only hope and pray that when my girls reflect on the way they were raised, they will be half as appreciative as I am with my dad. 

I love you dad, Happy fathers day.