(ThyBlackMan.com) #5. Self-Fulfilled Progeny: For all he’s conquered, being just like my father would be an honor.
I have come to a better appreciation and greater understanding of my earthly father now that I am a father. My relationship with my dad has improved tremendously since my marriage (relating husband to husband) but even further so by being a dad. I appreciate the foundation he set, the hard decisions he made and even his mistakes as they have set up how I am better able/prepared to be an effective father to my children.
#4. Self Re-Centered: Engendered joy in my world’s re-centered by my baby boy and girl.
If marriage (and YES – I am advocating, assuming and concluding that true fatherhood should happen within and after marriage!) didn’t tame your selfishness, fatherhood should! I had many selfish traits that I carried into 
my marriage that I was unaware of because I had been previously by myself. My own father noted how much less selfish I became after marriage… but he wasn’t living in my house to see the other self-centered ways I still portrayed. Having children simply reprioritizes your ranking which is an interesting dichotomy for being the head of the household. What it does is foster the learned behavior and precept of being a servant leader. What once seemed like an oxymoron should become adopted as a way of Christ-like life.
#3a. A Child’s Playback: Interacting with your child’s play enters facts about your childish ways.
#3b. Deliverance: My baby boy has helped to deliver me from many childish things.
#3c. Shaken Not Stirred: The Gravitas of Family Tree Husbandry: Slightly shaken by fatherhood, seeds fall in line witnessing my fruits.
Aside from giving away my 8-bit Nintendo, Nintendo 64 systems (realizing that I wouldn’t have time for nostalgia gameplay anymore) and foregoing the purchase of any new games or game systems beyond Playstation 2; having a son allowed me to put away childish things. Traits that I didn’t want to pass on to him through his observed mimicry of me had to be checked and corrected. Simply stated and according to the Word:
‘When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.’
– 1 Corinthians 13:11
#2. Fatherhood: The anointing of a father should cover his child’s head like a hood.
We have all been called and/or sent out to advance the Kingdom of God before mankind and the rest of the world. Accepting and walking in this anointing takes a level of maturity that not only benefits the father but benefits his offspring. My own calling was realized in my late twenties/early thirties so I feel as though I’m late in getting into my assigned work. But my son? He will not be late. He will learn the true practicality of the Kingdom and the role he plays in its application earlier than I did so that his work can have a greater impact. What will then effectively happen is that each generation’s learning curve will be shorter than the one that proceeded it as the newer generation accepts the truths of the Gospel and acts on it sooner while rejecting the mistakes and errors of the previous [generation].
#1. Seeing Through the Heavenly Father: My father-son guise shows my own bothersome cries through My Father’s eyes.
Elaborating on the #3 and #5 reasons for being a father, as I began instructing my son on how to listen me and be obedient to me, I experienced the frustrations of seeing him fail when he knew better but chose to do the wrong thing in the stubbornness of his own free will. As I began to see myself in him, it was quickly revealed to me how I related to God as seen through my three-year old child.
Observing the thought processes and actions of my son’s rebelliousness showed me how my own resistance to the instructions of God had delayed the gifts He wants to bestow upon me for being obedient. Simply stated, you understand both sides of your relationship with God THE Father better once you’ve become a father.
Staff Writer; Reggie Legend
Can find more about this writer over at; http://www.steelwaterspoetry.com
Also available as a Keynote Speaker – Book him Today; Speakerwiki – Reggie Legend