It goes without saying that having children can change your life. Having children should also grant you with opportunities to face your past in the presence of your children to give them a future full of hope:
Those who don’t face their
Pasts will end up turning their
Backs on their futures.
What do I mean by that, though? I see so much of myself in my children that it’s almost like déjà vu. Considering the fact that this phrase means “already seen” – it is an authentic 360 degree revolution of my childhood in many respects. I’m not talking about the physicality of how they look like myself or my wife, either. I see many of the same approaches, thought processes and mentalities in my children that once governed how I behaved (and still do!).
There are times where this is good but what type of blog with this be if I focused on those, though? Slightly interesting, at best. I want to write today about my son and I breaking a cycle: one that has visited him as a generational stronghold passed down through me. It’s only fair that I do capture a quick highlight, though – one that I think IS worth mentioning. Are you ready?:
My nine-year old son and I have written and published books that have been released in Amazon! Our book launch party is slated for later this month! He has heard me talk about how genius is common to everyone. He has heard me identify in myself God’s talent for being a wordsmith. He has received that whatever I have is likely a trait that he possesses and like Jesus said of His Father in heaven, he has done only what he has seen his father do: write a manuscript with the intent to distribute it to the masses. I only came along on the back end and helped direct him into getting it self-published.
What a feat, right?!! I can tell you an even greater feat, though. He and I rode our bikes together for the very first time today! The magnitude of what I have just typed cannot be fully grasped until you know my past, though.
As a child, I had pretty low self-esteem from being picked on early in life. As a result, my confidence level wasn’t always the best. I was smart but when, in rare times, I wasn’t ahead of the class and had to actually WORK at getting something, I would often lose my bearings. But schoolwork is not the thing I want to discuss today (though that would come back to haunt me my freshman year in college).
What’s one of the biggest, coolest accomplishments you can have as a child (so I’m told…)? Here’s a hint, I already mentioned it! Riding a bike is a rite of passage in nearly every person’s childhood. Yet, it was a benchmark that I missed growing up. I confess to you now that as a 39-years-old-in-16-days aged adult, I never learned how to ride a bike.
I had an unhealthy pride even as a child that wouldn’t try anything if I couldn’t excel at it right away. I took a few gos on my good BMX bike in my basement, nearly fell and gave it all the way up. I never looked back… until I had my son.
Knowing how this mindset can be a limiting factor in life, I began noticing it in him right away. When it came time to take off his training wheels, I knew that I had a huge teaching moment to face. Would I teach him the mechanics of how to ride a bike as a hypocrite and hide the fact that I was unable to ride one myself (the type of approach that I think far too many parents take in teaching but not living through lessons with their children)? Or… would I confess to him my failure and learn to ride WITH him?
Obviously, I chose to ride with him. Doing so has greatly broken down the cycled chain of pride that has been on my family for generations. Ironically, once my wife was ready to record us riding together, the bicycle chain on my wife’s bike (as of yet, I do not have my own) actually popped off! The lesson that my son has learned is obvious but the liberty that he and his children’s children now have is a subtle yet powerful one. We are FREE! This particular chain has been broken! WE have overcome a spiritual enemy (pride) on yet another level that has permanently crippled the BI-cycle of visitation that came upon BOTH of us in our youth!
Let me tell you how it all went down real quick.
I actually got my “bike” legs last week so I had decided to let my wife take him and our six-year old daughter out this morning (we had promised to ride every Saturday morning this summer until we ALL became able-bodied bike riders like mommy) while I cut the grass.
The timing was beyond perfect. As I turned the corner of the backyard to face the front, I saw my son smoothly pull into the driveway. I asked him if he had just learned how to ride his bike and the moment that he shook his head “yes,” I took my hand off the mower’s lever and ran towards him with my arms open! I hugged him, dapped him up and congratulated him, shook him… we did it all! Just the previous week, he had been ready to give up. He had started making excuses about how none of his friends would care if he road a bike or not; but knowing MY history and seeing my victory last week, he KNEW he could push beyond. And that is EXACTLY what he did.
To God be the glory!
MANU FORTI MINISTRIES, LLC
“Speaking LIFE to unlock the POWER of GOD within YOU” ™
