Every once in a while, I ask myself these two questions:
- Am I the type of man I’d like my sons to be when they grow up?
- Am I the type of man I’d be happy if my daughter married when she grows up?
In other words, am I a good example to my children of what a man should be?
To take it a step further, am I a good example to my children of what a Christian man should be?
Like you, I can be my own worst critic. So this question can be dangerous and lead to unnecessary navel-gazing.
That said, it’s a pretty good decision filter. It is also a pretty good way to decide which habits are worth building and which might not be so important.
If I make decisions….
…then it’s a safe bet I’m moving in the right direction. The key is to actually make that practice a habit.
Let me throw one more decision-making filter into the mix: Bring as much fun as possible into the mix.
The point is this: I don’t want to just teach my kids how to be decent adult humans. I want to be such a decent adult human that if they simply modeled after me, they’d end up fine.
It’s worth taking a bit of time every once in a while to check yourself to see if you like how you’re handling yourself and if it’s how you’d hope your little ones will handle themselves in the future.
For a much better discussion of this idea of leading yourself, check out Andy Stanley’s sermon “The American in the Mirror”