"The orphaned boy always feels alone. Men with unhealed souls feel alone even in the company of friends." And it is for this reason that this stage is so crucial. This is where everything begins, and this defines so much of the journey. I was talking with one of my closest friends this week about the masculine journey, and as we talked the importance of this became even clearer to me. We are put on this earth as males in order to become men. The masculine journey is what we are born for. If we are guided and able to do it well God is glorified because we live fully alive. But if something happens and we stumble and don't get back up, if we are led astray, if we are hindered and never complete it, we miss out on everything He has in store for us.
Father's don't hinder the journey of your sons into manhood, help them begin the journey towards become men of God. "We want to raise boys who get to be boys, and who know beyond any shadow of doubt that they are the Beloved Son. But there is another meaning to the title of this chapter. To be raised also means to be resurrected. Brought back from the dead. There are many, many men who never knew the happiness and security of being the Beloved Son, and therefore never really got to be a boy in fullness and freedom. They might be angry... they might be uncertain of themselves; they may have looked to the woman for love, or to another man. They may be overachievers, or dropouts. They are all around, and they still need to know. The boy within needs to be raised from the depths of the soul where he has hidden or been banished so that the man can 'get on with his life.' The boy inside must be raised, and raise to the status of Beloved Son."
We all know the sad reality of that statement. Too many of us have never known that we are the Beloved Son. We were never able to enjoy the wonder and amazement of boyhood, and never received the discipline and correction that comes from the father's love. Without this knowledge the journey cannot continue, and since you cannot lead someone where you have never been, we cannot guide our sons during this stage of their journey. We must allow the Father to bring healing, and to affirm that we are His Beloved Sons.
"Before any man or family or experience in itself - it is God himself who embraces us and tells us we are the Beloved Son. He will bring this to us through words spoken in our hearts, through Scriptures that suddenly take on new meaning, through events that bring to us his delight - we come to see that he is smiling upon us, that he wants to bring us close to his heart."
You are God's Beloved Son, and He wants you to know that. As I have been reading I've been looking at my own life, a lot, thus why some of these posts are so far between. I see areas where I need to hear this message from God, where I need to know that He sees me as His Beloved Son. This knowledge is vital because without it the journey cannot continue.
I was talking with a guy from the couple’s small group my wife and I lead about this the masculine journey last week. He was sharing with me the things he's going through, why he's going through them, and his frustration with all of it. As he talked I kept thinking about these two books, and I asked if he had read them. I began talking with him about the masculine journey and I remember his saying, "I just don't feel like I have the time for it. Work, being a husband, and somehow fitting a masculine journey into that." As he said that I was thinking, "You can't afford not to."
This journey is not an option for us. Without this we can never hope to have life as it was meant to be, and we can never hope to find lasting joy. Remember, this journey is done with God, it is God who is fathering us. As a man to walk with God is to embark upon the masculine journey, because it is the path we were created to walk. We must allow God to father us, and to affirm us as His Beloved Son.
"Iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another."
To God alone be the Glory!
Strength and Honor
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