"Now, there is a rhythm to the earth, and to man's life upon it. At its best, the rhythm is a harmony of Discipline and Freedom. Harvest and Sabbath. School year and summer vacation. Monday mornings and Friday nights. Clean your room and go out to play. We teach a boy... by mixing the years of the Cowboy with both adventure and hard work."
This is what it all comes down to, balance. I know too many people who spent their Cowboy years simply adventuring, never working. Personally, I feel mine were spent with more working than adventure, which has had its own impact on who I am and how I see life. We need a balance to this so that there can be harmonious rhythm. Too much adventure and the boy sees life as something fun, enjoyment with no investment. But too much work and there will be nothing to enjoy because work is all that fills his life. There has to be balance, because ultimately, work leads to adventure, prepares us for adventure. Just as discipline ultimately leads to freedom.
It is crucial that a boy learn how to work during this stage of his life, but it is just as crucial that he learn life is meant to enjoy as well, and there is more than simply working to get ahead. I feel that too many times people do that, but once they get there they are unable to enjoy it because work is all they know. "There's a lot we have to learn before we become powerful. There is a way things work." But this lesson has to be learned with the balance of work and adventure, fun and responsibility.
"Mission trips would be ideal at this stage. For a boy-becoming-a-young-man to see what life is like in the developing world, to see poverty up close, to lend a hand in building a room or serving a meal or teaching English - that is a lesson he will never forget." Perhaps the biggest part of work is learning that you have strength, and that it is yours to use in the service of others. There are people in the world that need help, and you have the ability to offer it. All of this works to help a boy further understand that he is not the most important thing in the world, and that things do not function as they were intended. And in that he will begin to see that there is something he can do about it. He will begin to see his life as part of God's story, and realize that he is called to be part of something epic.
"Find ways to engage the boy in doing things for himself... 'Here - you do it.' The message: you can handle this... Quite often when you give a young man opportunities, he doesn't even see it as work." Let your sons use your tools, show them how, watch them, but let them do it. I hate working on cars with a passion, and the reason being, it was one thing my dad didn't really teach me. It was "Hold my light" and "Get me this tool", but I wasn't on the ground under the vehicle with him watching how to do things. Instead it was hours of just standing there, bored to death, learning nothing and wasting time.
"The wisdom for adventure is the same for work - where is the hesitation in the boy or man? Go there. What will develop in him a sense of strength, and courage, and confidence? Go there. And finally, how will you counter that essential selfishness inherent to man, how will you teach him to serve others? Go there."
"Iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another."
To God alone be the Glory!
Strength and Honor
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