Lead by example.

“When you grow up you can be anything you want to be.”

Who hasn’t heard this from a parent or schoolteacher or someone of authority in their young impressionable life?

I was certainly no exception. I heard the same words in my youth at home, in school, at church, I heard those very same words from a grocer at a small neighborhood market who handed out candy treats to young kids dragged around by shopping mothers at the checkout counter. I seems everywhere I turned some adult was fussing over how bright I was and what a glorious future awaited me. But even in my youth I could detect the feint hollow jealousy of those who mourned the passing of their own personal dreams.

These people once had goals and desires and eagerly looked forward to a brilliant future. They daydreamed about what lifestyle awaited them. They wished for wonders and prayed for fulfillment and watched lazy clouds float by from thoughtful comfy positions in cozy springtime meadows and verdant park grass.

Then one day we all woke up at some point and shook the daydreams from our collective conscience. At some point we lost drive. We became unfocused. We became distracted by billions of micro bits of everyday mundane data streaming through our daily lives. Our routines shifted from cloud watching to crowd control on our daily emotions and mounting stresses.
Responsibility took on a life of it’s own for most everyone. Divided by guilt and desire then multiplied on a quantum scale by daily events dreams were pushed further back every day, chipped away in the deep cerebral mines of indifference by present day needs and urgencies. Dreams lay dormant and ineffectual, cast aside for the more demanding realities of life.
God gives us the awesome privilege of choice. He gives it freely and with a price. What we do with our lives is entirely up to us. We chose to walk safe or run dangerously as we travel our life’s path. We face the unknown and view the world from a personal perspective and alter reality minutely one breath at a time. We struggle for our dreams, fight to survive or we give up and coast for a time.

I have observed that my own lifestyle has been a combination of all these things. Successes and failures, shattered dreams and revised hopes. Petty desire and powerful passions infused with fearful caution and self-doubt. Outwardly I cast a long shadow of pride that is meant to cover my shortcomings, but if my own youth is any indicator of the transparent lies that come from our words then my success at motivating today’s youth is as ineffectual as my predecessors.
I have always advocated teaching through example. It was the most effective method for me as I grew up and I have done my best to live my life accordingly. As controversial as this may have been at times; the most incentive reward I ever reaped from personal experience has involved standing fast to my belief and faith even when no one else would stand beside me. My weakest days have been when I basked in the glory of my own vain importance and allowed self-worship to take lead in my life.

The greatest gift we can bestow on our children is not money, cars, video games, food on the plate, or even clothes on their back. The confidence to walk with faith and the strength to carry their belief even when alone, these are true gifts to our youth. Prepare them to face the unknown by giving them the proper tools to forge a healthy life. Morality, responsibility, courage, determination, confidence and perseverance all come from the examples we set as we live our own lives.

Lead by example.