Recently I was talking to my oldest son Mike, a missionary to the Philippines, and was reminded of the powerful influence of a father.
Mike mentioned to me that he had preached a sermon about why he was so much like his dad. I looked through his notes from that sermon and wanted to share them with you, as they are powerful words of wisdom and truth.
As parents, we need to remember that spending time with our kids is a great way to influence them. They do become like us as we spend time with them. This is a great reminder to use our influence in a positive way!
“Anyone who knows my father well could recognize that I am his son without ever being told. I think it would be fair to make the statement, “If you’ve seen Mike, you’ve seen Mike’s father. If you know Mike, you know Mike’s father. If you know how Mike would respond in a certain situation, you know how Mike’s father would respond in that same situation. We are the same in many ways.
It is only natural that the question should be raised, “Why is it that I am so much like my father?” Is it just part of the Morrissey DNA? Is it because something magical happened when “Morrissey” was printed on my birth certificate?
Certainly, there are traits that were passed down to me from my father, but I don’t believe that is the reason that I am so much like him. I am like my father not just because he is my father.
Because I spent time with him, he influenced my thinking and developed the way I look at life.
The closer I got to my father, the more I began to think like him. What was important to him became important to me. The things that were exciting to him became exciting to me. The things that made him angry began to make me angry. What he thought was funny became funny to me. His desires became my desires. His passions became my passions.
As I grew older, the closer I got to my father, the more I thought like him, and the more that I thought like him, the more I acted like him.
Hey Mike, why are you so much like your dad? I spent time with him and ….
If you’ve seen me, you’ve seen my father.”
What a great and sobering reminder about the influence we have as parents!
This is a great example of the influence that comes when you win your child’s heart. Download this free printable for subscribers with 20 ways to win your child’s heart.[magicactionbox]
4 Responses
Thanks for sharing. God bless you. There is definitely hope in Christ Jesus even for such situations.
Ruthie, thanks for stopping in! You are right – the father/son relationship is how we teach our kids their relationship with God should be.
What a great testimony of a son for his father! His dad was involved and interacted and taught and loved and showed. Our heavenly Father is the same way, as we spend time with Him, His thoughts become our thoughts, His ways our ways.
Thanks for sharing on mama moments today, I’m your neighbor!
Hmmm. That is an interesting perspective. My father’s dad left him and my grandma when my father was not yet one year old. My father never saw him again until he popped up out of the blue when I, the third child in line, was born, over 25 years later. There was absolutely no contact during all that time, no home videos, they lived in different countries for a long while, then in vastly separated states. Yet, when they met, it was uncanny to everyone involved how they walked the same, dressed similarly, spoke the same, same mannerisms, most of their tastes, hobbies, life experiences, and even the way they thought mirrored each other, even finishing each others’ sentences.
I am not trying at all to discredit or contradict this article, but I do want to say there is a lot to the blood ties in a family. Thankfully, the blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, cleanses us from all sin, and, while my grandfather and father have had a sporadic, long distance relationship since that day they met, their lives have taken different paths now, despite their striking similarities, as my father is now a born again Christian, and my grandfather is not. I don’t know, but I am hoping this to be an encouragement to someone who may feel there is no hope for their husband, son, father, grandson, etc. to be a good man because of the decisions of the most influential man in their life.