Passing It On: Know What I Mean?

“In twenty-five years what do you think you’ll tell your family I passed on to you as a father?” I posed that question to the girls as we sat eating a scrumptious Father’s Day breakfast. Call me a bit bold or a little bit crazy but none-the-less, as fathers we do pass on a lot to our children. Here’s what I mean: My friend Sam – “His life has been characterized by a genuine preference for reluctance, followed by simple confidence and high performance…He’s been a good man, a good husband and father." ESPN’s Hannah Storm – “I remember Dad always picking himself up, relentlessly positive and always pushing new ideas.”

So I’m left to ponder. What am I passing on to my children? I’m not sure I want to know. What do I want to pass on to my children? It’s innumerable. Character is important. Love for God’s Word. Holy Spirit awareness. Importance of family. Humor and laughter. Being real and vulnerable in community. The Christian life is not perfection, it’s a transforming process. Creative living is good. ALL of these are good but let me focus on three others.

I want to pass on a spirit of enjoyment and appreciation. There are so many simple pleasures and daily happenings to appreciate in this life. They are just busting out all around us. This hasn’t always been the norm for me. I can be a “glass half empty person” but what I want to pass on is an enjoying the moment to the fullest. Here’s what I mean: appreciating a well written novel, classical music, a fire red sunset from the backyard, a story told from a senior, a classic car show, the summiting experience, the roar of a waterfall, garden growth, art, antiques, mountain music,a rummage sale “find” coldness of the creek..

I want to pass on an attitude of adventure. John Eldredge captured the idea well in the quote included in one of his writings, “Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” I want my children to discover the God-given adventure that He has placed in their heart. And it very well might be unconventional. Here’s what I mean: it could be a summer learning language in Germany, studying the cello, raising seven children with a homesteading focus, doing graduate work in ethnomusicology, starting an outreach to surfers, adopting children from Ethiopia, opening a tea room on a university campus, becoming a writer or artist…

I want to pass on a heart for worship. A king Davidisque type of worship…passionate, real and undignified. A heart that stands solidly on revelation and engages the emotions. Unquestionably it is worship of the Triune God and goes way beyond the eleven o’clock hour of Sunday morning. Here’s what I mean: it daily acknowledges God’s worth when writing music, standing in wonder at the Grand Canyon, gazing at the stars, touring in Ireland, marveling at the birth of a child, enjoying blueberry harvest, listening to Hillsong, hiking in a National Park…

So what about you? What are you wanting to pass on to your children? It’s worth thinking about, if you know what I mean.