Thursday evening we went to the airport to pick up my oldest son Mike, his wife Ruth, and their little daughter Beth. They've been in the Philippines as missionaries for 2 years, and Beth was born after they arrived there. So this was the first time we got to meet her. (Yes, I believe in love at first sight! Can you see why?)
My granddaughter, Beth
My husband and son
As I was talking to Mike a few days ago, he mentioned to me that he had preached a sermon about why he was so much like his dad. I
looked at his notes, and thought it would be fun to share parts of his thoughts as a follow up to my previous Mother/Daughter post.
"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, but because I spent lots of time with him, and he influenced me in every area of life. 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….
His thoughts became my thoughts.
His dreams became my dreams.
The things he loved I began to love.
The things he hated, I began to hate.
His priorities became my priorities.
If you've seen me, you've seen my father."
What a great and sobering reminder about the influence we have as parents!
By the way, we won't be able to have that influence on our chidren, if we haven't won their hearts! For ideas on how to win your children hearts, you can now purchase my newest workshop talk "Winning the Hearts of Your Children", as an MP3 download at our website: http://courtshipconnection.com/audios/
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