Monday, March 26, 2012

Honorable Manhood

JayG's son has moved on from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts.  Congratulation to the young man (no longer TheBoy, or at least not for long).  Jay muses on that most difficult change for a man - having to watch your child from the sidelines as they grow to being the adult you hope they'll be.

Because then it's not about what it used to be.  It's not being the biker/gun nut/road rage man that we all love to read.  It's about being that man that I'm proud to call a friend.



You don't fool me, because I went through this, too:
You are the bows from which your children
as living arrows are sent forth.
The Archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite,
and He bends you with His might
that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the Archer's hand be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies,
so He loves also the bow that is stable.
You're a stable bow, Jay; you bend with gladness.  Your arrow flies swift.

3 comments:

Jay G said...

Thank you, my friend.

The "Cats in the Cradle" line was more about the rapid passage of time, at least for me; I know the intention in the song is that the dad spent too much time at work and was too busy for his kid.

It seems like yesterday that he started Cub Scouts, a bright-eyed six year old first grader. I remember looking at the older Scouts and thinking how *big* they looked. Now that's my kid. He's going on to Boy Scouts where they'll teach him all kinds of cool stuff and do lots of fun things - and I hope to be there with him for most of it.

More on this tomorrow... But thanks.

Dirk said...

I can 100% identify with you, Jay!

My son just crossed over two weeks ago today, and had his first Boy Scout meeting last Monday. Since I plan to continue in an adult leader role with the troop, and since we both needed some new goodies, we spent $250+ at the Scout shop over the weekend... Seems it's OK for the boys to not have Scout shorts, pants and socks, but adult leaders are expected to wear the full uniform.

All for a good cause, though!

Windy Wilson said...

Congratulations! I and my two brothers were Eagle Scouts. Sadly, my Stalinist SIL, the helicopter Tiger Mom of my nephew (He's 6 now, so there's still a chance) thinks that despite all the other good things the BSA does, because they don't want openly homosexual men as leaders, that makes them completely unacceptable as an organization to make men.

Dirk, the boys are growing and outgrow the clothes faster than the parents can generally afford to buy new; the Scouters only grow in girth, so the clothing wears out, which is a slower process (we hope).