When did I stop being a warrior? When did that secret desire to be dangerous melt away? Life sucks it out of us if we let it. Good news is we can get it (back) men.
Fact is, we were born with a spirit of adventure to be warriors. Too often we end up being the epitome of the comic strip character, Dilbert. Or we direct our warrior effort and strength toward getting rich or some other shallow and fundamentally irrelevant objective/goal. Often how we look becomes more important than how we are character-wise. Appearance becomes more important than substance. Don't rock the boat ... you could fall out. Don't take risks ... you might fail. Don't be true to your nature ... conform. Don't do 'the right thing' ... that's so old-school. Don't. Don't. Don't. What happened to try ... try your best?
When and how did things like honor, honesty, courage, responsible behavior, integrity, reliability, faithful friendship, chivalry, defender of the weak/affirmed, hard/honest work, faithful husbands/fathers, and avoiding debt/indebtedness cease to become the standards? One of my greatest laments about our culture at this time: there was a time when a man's word meant something, when a promise made was a promise kept. One lawyer for every 10 people in the country wasn't necessary because a man's handshake was bond and people took more responsibility for their lives and for circumstances, especially those they created.
As Eldgedge describes, many of us men live wounded lives, unable to realize the potential God put in our souls. Wounds from our fathers are the worst along with fathers who are absent in fact or in spirit. Fathers who fail us or make/allow us to feel like failures keep us from discovering our "authentic masculinity".
So, we search (or should be searching) for that "authentic masculinity" such as God intended for us which translates into being a good (reliable, faithful) husband, father and friend. We were born to be Wild at Heart so if we never discovered it or lost it we need to find and embrace it. Our world needs us to be authentic. Our wives and children are more desperate for it than we (or they!) know or vocalize.
Fact is, we were born with a spirit of adventure to be warriors. Too often we end up being the epitome of the comic strip character, Dilbert. Or we direct our warrior effort and strength toward getting rich or some other shallow and fundamentally irrelevant objective/goal. Often how we look becomes more important than how we are character-wise. Appearance becomes more important than substance. Don't rock the boat ... you could fall out. Don't take risks ... you might fail. Don't be true to your nature ... conform. Don't do 'the right thing' ... that's so old-school. Don't. Don't. Don't. What happened to try ... try your best?
When and how did things like honor, honesty, courage, responsible behavior, integrity, reliability, faithful friendship, chivalry, defender of the weak/affirmed, hard/honest work, faithful husbands/fathers, and avoiding debt/indebtedness cease to become the standards? One of my greatest laments about our culture at this time: there was a time when a man's word meant something, when a promise made was a promise kept. One lawyer for every 10 people in the country wasn't necessary because a man's handshake was bond and people took more responsibility for their lives and for circumstances, especially those they created.
As Eldgedge describes, many of us men live wounded lives, unable to realize the potential God put in our souls. Wounds from our fathers are the worst along with fathers who are absent in fact or in spirit. Fathers who fail us or make/allow us to feel like failures keep us from discovering our "authentic masculinity".
So, we search (or should be searching) for that "authentic masculinity" such as God intended for us which translates into being a good (reliable, faithful) husband, father and friend. We were born to be Wild at Heart so if we never discovered it or lost it we need to find and embrace it. Our world needs us to be authentic. Our wives and children are more desperate for it than we (or they!) know or vocalize.
I recommend this book to any man who realizes he's no longer Wild at Heart.
