A Fathers Pray!

I am thankful for so many things in my life and have been blessed in more ways than I can count. However, just over four years ago I was blessed with my first child...A boy named Donovan. He continues to be a great source of joy and love in my life. He keeps me on my toes and stretches me to be a better man and father. I pray for my family often and this prayer helps sum the love and desires I have for my son and my self as a father.

The General’s Prayer: by General Douglas MacArththur

"Build me a son, oh Lord, who will be strong enough to know when he is weak, and brave enough to face himself when he is afraid; one who will be proud and unbending in honest defeat, and humble and gentle in victory.

"Build me a son whose wishbone will not be where his backbone should be; a son who will know Thee, and that to know himself is the foundation stone of knowledge. Lead him, I pray, not in the path of ease and comfort, but under the stress and spur of difficulties and challenge.

"Here let him learn to stand up to the storm; here let him learn compassion for those who fail. Build me a son whose heart will be clear, whose goal will be high; a son who will master himself before he seeks to master other men; one who will learn to laugh, yet never forget how to weep; one who will reach into the future, yet never forget the past.

"And after all these things are his, add, I pray, enough of a sense of humor so that he may always be serious, yet never take himself too seriously. Give him humility, so that he may always remember the simplicity of true greatness, the open mind of true wisdom, the meekness of true strength.

"Then I, his father, will dare to whisper, 'I have not lived in vain.’"