Raising the Bar

I was talking to one of the pastor's at Riv yesterday and he made such a great point that I now can't stop thinking about. Well ok I mean yes I can stop thinking about it, but it keeps popping back into my mind... It was about being a mom/dad in today's society and how so many guys graduate from college, and live in their parents basement instead of leaving the "nest" and starting their lives as individuals and as men. I was telling him how even though Gavin is still little, things like this make me think. I want to raise a successful son who grows up, has a great job, great wife, etc. I don't want my son to be one of the crazies who goes into a movie theater shoots people, or a son who's on teen mom, or in and out of jail. He then stopped me. He said something along the lines of, "That's a good goal, but why not raise the bar?"

Why not set your standards for your son higher than that?". He said how so many times in society we talk about not wanting our sons to be deadbeats, or murderers, or "losers" but that should be a given. What we should want is to raise our sons as strong Christian leaders and men. Raise them to be a man who stands up for what is right regardless of the costs, a man who respects women, a man who stands firm in his faith and is God fearing. I know a lot of this sounds so old fashioned, but I mean is it really? This is the type of man I married, and shouldn't this be the standard of the man that my son will become?

I know this is pretty deep. A lot deeper than pretty much anything else I've wrote on here but it's one of those things that caught my attention. He's right, why shoot for the standard when what I should be doing is raising the bar on my own standards...I appreciate the reminder. Which is why I'm writing it here. So I don't forget :)