We’ve been talking this week about Majors & Minors.
A while back a friend told me a story. With his permission, I’ll share three things he said to his kids nearly every day from the time they were old enough to understand.
He tried to make it happen at breakfast – when busy schedules allowed. The family would pray, and then he would repeat these three principles:
- Be a leader.
- Walk with the King.
- Serve others.
I’m sure lots of conversation happened around each one, but the main point is that he tried to never miss a day without beginning with those three statements.
As work got busier and kids’ schedules became more varied, family breakfast wasn’t always possible. Sometimes, as he headed out the door, he would shout, “Be a leader,” and wait for the kids to respond, wherever they were in the house, with the other two statements.
I worked with teenagers for 35 years. I’m sure there were years when his kids rolled their eyes a bit, because that’s what teenagers do. But still, the principles were there, every single day.
I also know kids tend not to be impacted so much by what adults say, but they watch very carefully what they do. I’ll bet my friend and his wife worked hard to be examples – to demonstrate what it meant to be leaders, to walk with the King, to serve others. I imagine husband-wife conversations: how do we intentionally live out these principles?
Just imagine the impact of that kind of consistency, every single day, day after day, year after year, in a child’s life. Not just hearing the words, but seeing the example.
I think this story is an example of Monday’s quote from C. S. Lewis:
Put first things first and we get second things thrown in; put second things first and we lose both first and second things.
My friend, I believe, made an intentional choice to put first things first.