To fathers everywhere:
You are embarking upon the most important mission of your life. If successful, this mission will result in the greatest generation of children and families our nation may ever birth, nurture and raise. Your mission is to serve as an engaged, loving, resilient and responsible father.
As a father, you will play a vital role in shaping your child’s values, how they behave, how they interact with other people and how they respond to their circumstances. One of your first priorities is to instill good values in your children. These values include faith, family and grit. Faith -or a strong relationship and belief in Jesus Christ- will enable your children to be rooted in truth, to be merciful, fearless, to love their neighbor and to gain eternal salvation.
You will show your child the importance of family. Healthy families are the foundation of a strong society. They are also a teaching ground for relationship building, empathy, confidence, unconditional love and mutual support.
Your mission will also require you to instill your child with grit. Grit is resilience and toughness, as well as the mindset to succeed regardless of the circumstances. You will demonstrate to your children the importance of balancing strength with compassion and the importance of nurturing a sound mind.
Finally, in order to be successful, you will need to partner with a remarkable mother to cultivate and foster a caring family. Engaged fathers who team up with awesome mothers usually raise and nurture children who make positive contributions to society and who -in turn- raise strong families themselves.
Your mission does not come with an instruction manual. But there are several tips I learned from my father that I suggest you adopt as a how-to guide for fatherhood, including:
- Develop a tangible love and passion for Jesus Christ
- Prioritize God and family above everything
- Live fearlessly and embrace challenges as opportunities
- Be a lifelong learner and share your knowledge with others
- Treat everyone with respect, kindness and humility.
The bible says in Proverbs 22:6, that we, “Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it”. While you cannot control the choices your children will make once they become adults, you can start them off on the right path.
I trust you will accept your mission. If we want a better future and healthier families, we need more men who are willing to selflessly serve as engaged fathers at home.
Godspeed!
David Morales
