I had a rough day last week. I completely lost my cool with my family. I said things out of anger that I did not mean. It eventually got to point where I had to walk away from the situation. I walked out the door to cool off. I was going to drive away, but I knew that was not going to be a good decision. So, I decided to sit outside in the dark to collect my thoughts. I eventually came back inside, defeated and humiliated. How can I be a husband, a father, and a pastor if I struggle with this?
Eventually it was bed time for our boys. Whenever I put my oldest son, Caedmon, to bed we spend a little time in prayer before we read books. I wanted him to pray that night because I was still not in the mood to do it (I know it must be shocking that a pastor was not in the mood to pray!). So, Caedmon prayed and he did the most amazing thing: he led me in prayer. And, not just any prayer, but the Lord's prayer. He is six years old and he knew it by heart! Talk about a very humbling experience.
That night, like many nights and days as a father, God taught me a valuable lesson of fatherhood, humility. A father who is not humble enough to learn from his kids is not cut out to be the best father he can be. The pressure is to have all the answers for our kids. After all, they look to us as the superheroes and the braniacs who can do anything and know everything. So, woe be to us if we ever make a mistake. And if we do make a mistake, then we are the worst failures ever. I mean every other parent never makes a mistake right?
Proverbs 16:18 says, "Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall." I don't want to be a father who is puffed up on pride. I don't want to fall and be destroyed because then I would really be useless to my family. I would rather humble myself before them and allow God to use them to teach me a thing or two about following him.
My six year old Caedmon is a boy after God's own heart. He is loving and forgiving. He is gracious and merciful. He is the kind of person I want to be. He is my hero at times because he teaches me so many things about the heart of God. He shows me how to live a godly life. If that makes me weak in the eyes of the world, then may I be the weakest weakling ever. I would rather find my strength in my King and the way I am going to do that is through humility.
So, fathers be humble enough to admit your mistakes. Be humble enough to learn from your kids because we do not know everything. And, be humble enough to look up to your kids at times.
