Friday, February 6, 2009

Beloved Son is Basis for all Other Identities

We have put allot of time into the Journey of the Son. And there is reason for that. It is the basis for our further journeys, as if we were to stack them one upon the other. We move from the Beloved Son to the Loyal Brother, to the Vital Man, to the Devoted Husband, to the Strong Father, and finally, to the Veteran Sage. Sonship stands as foundational for all the others. It is the cornerstone of a man’s identity and growth. A beloved son makes a loyal brother, a beloved son and brother make a good man. And so on we stack these identities, adding each one upon the other as we move on to the identity of a husband, a father, and a sage.

Given my pastoral experience, the problems or struggles a man faces in any of these latter stages usually points back to an issue in childhood; that is, to a gap or wound in sonship. Thus, to revive or heal the son in every man is to strengthen him in each successive identity. It is easy to imagine that a wounded son is going to make a wounded man and father. And so to face one’s journey of sonship, to accept it, to put it on the path to healing, and to lift it up to God, will make any man a better man, father, husband, brother, etc.

That process of facing that journey of sonship can be complex. There are many facets of doing this…. I will be bringing some up. How start? Be still long enough to listen to your heart, wait upon God to speak, and you will be amazed at what he reveals.