Entries Tagged 'Character Development' ↓
By Randy on October 10, 2007 in Character Development, Leadership, Parenting
I wrote about parenting as character building a couple days ago. Since then I’ve reflected more on this and I’ve been thinking about the work of character building as the work of shaping a heart.
The backdrop for this idea is Reggie McNeal’s book, A Work of Heart: Understanding How God Shapes Spiritual Leaders. God’s work in people is a “work of heart.” A leader’s job is also a work of heart. And a parent’s job is a work of heart as well. The primary responsibility of parents is to develop the character of their children!
The Scriptures challenge parents (Proverbs 22.6):
Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.
Parents must do their best to shape the heart(s) of their child(ren). David was a man whose heart was shaped well. God said about David:
I have found David … a man after my own heart.
There are no guarantees in life. Even after you’ve done all the heart-shaping work you can do (and no one does it perfectly), still the child must choose his/her own path. The possibilities are a bit scary, but they’re also exciting!
Thankfully, parents are not alone in this heart-shaping work. This work is ultimately God’s work. On that note, Deuteronomy 6.4-9 offers some great advice for parents!
We plan to do some more thinking, especially on the core practices of this heart-shaping work (perhaps starting with the core practices in Deuteronomy 6). In the meantime, what practices have you found helpful in shaping your child’s heart/character?
{}
By Randy on October 8, 2007 in Adoption, Character Development, Leadership, Parenting
As we’ve talked with many people over the last year about our adoption process, we’ve received two primary responses: 1) excitement about the prospect of an addition to our family, and 2) certainty that our lives are going to be turned upside down. 
Well, with our adoption process nearing the end, much of our attention now turns toward preparing for parenthood. As we do so, we are committed to developing strong character in the little person God entrusts us with. Parenting is heart-shaping work!
I’m sure one of our most important challenges will be maintaining this focus on character building. With all of the distractions available today (media, sports, music, hobbies, etc., none of which are bad in and of themselves, necessarily, and all of which can be part of character building), we hope to do our best to keep the main thing (i.e. building strong character) the main thing.
Parenting is a form of leadership. Whereas a primary responsibility of Christ-following leaders is building Christ-like character in others, parents are also entrusted with the responsibility of developing character in their child/children. We trust that God will help us to build strong character in Baby Willis (yes, we’re still working on a new name!).
We’re beginning to collect helpful online parenting resources at our del.icio.us online bookmarks page (we especially like the stuff in the quirky rules article).
If you have a good resource to suggest, or if you have some personal advice you’ve learned along the way, we’d love to hear from you in the comments section!
[Click here to read Parenting as Character Building 2.0]
{}
By Randy on October 4, 2007 in Character Development, Legacy, Movies, Parenting, Stewardship
Don’t just live a life, leave a legacy!
Awhile back, we watched The Ultimate Gift (official movie/movement website). We watched it again while visiting family in Tennessee earlier this week. It’s a great movie with the tag line, “A life experience becomes a gift.” The movie is based on Jim Stovall’s book, The Ultimate Gift.
The movie begins with the death of Red Stevens (James Garner), a wealthy businessman. One of his family members, Jason Stevens, expects (as does the rest of the family) a big inheritance. Instead, his grandfather recorded several video vignettes during his final days, which become a crash course on life for Jason. Red states …
So I want to give you a gift—a series of gifts leading up to, well, I wanna call it “the ultimate gift.” Now, you fail in any way, it’s over. You get nothing.
During one of his recorded speeches, Red says …
Our lives should be lived not avoiding problems but welcoming them as challenges that will strengthen us so that we can be victorious in the future.
That’s a great statement!
If you watch The Ultimate Gift on DVD, be sure to watch the beginning of the credits at the end of the movie for a recap of the “gifts,” which include:
The gifts of …
- Work
- Money
- Friends
- Learning
- Problems (You don’t begin to live until you lose everything, Red.)
- Family
- Laughter
- Dreams
- Giving
- Gratitude
- A day
- Love
The music in this movie, composed by Mark McKenzie is good. Our favorite is “Something Changed” by Sara Groves. The song is about life transformation. The chorus says …
And I cannot make it. And I cannot fake it. And I can’t afford it. But it’s mine.
The song, which appears on Sara’s 2005 Add to the Beauty CD (you can listen to 30-second clips of all of Sara’s songs at her site; just find the album and click on the song title) [EDIT: Sara's site has changed and this link no longer works, unfortunately], proclaims that life change is God’s work — you can’t make it, fake it, or earn it, it’s a gift from God to all who will receive it.
Since the movie we’ve become very interested in Sara’s music! We especially love her latest single (from her upcoming CD, “Tell Me What You Know” called “When the Saints,” an inspirational song for people who want to change the world).
One of the movie’s sponsors, Once Upon a Family, has put together a kit to help families put the message of the movie into practice. As we prepare for parenthood, we’re thinking about things like legacy and developing strong character in children. This movie certainly comes at the right time for us!
The movie reminded us of Leonard Sweet’s book, SoulSalsa, especially the chapter called, “Bounce Your Last Check.” You can read extensive portions of the book at Google Books (scroll down to page 52 to read a portion of this chapter). In the book, which you’ll find in our list of recommend books for leaders, Sweet says, “Soul artists receive good things gratefully and give it all away in the end.”
We strongly recommend “The Ultimate Gift.” Even more importantly, this is a movie that needs to be more than simply watched and enjoyed, it needs to be internalized and put into practice.
May God help us all to leave a legacy!
{}