Chivalry, Part 9: More on Ceremonies

Just to start out, Lewis gives 4 instances when manhood ceremonies should be held for boys/young men. They should be given at puberty, high school graduation, college graduation, and marriage. If you think about it, these four situations are absolute pivotal points in a young man's life.

As Jacob nears puberty, I'm starting to think about all the changes he's going to go through. I think he's changing now, but I can't imagine what the teen years will be like. My heart just wants to see him do something good with his life; to serve God with his whole heart. If we raise him up and teach him what a real man is ("Someone who rejects passivity, accepts responsibility, leads courageously, and expects the greater reward- God's reward"), and if we pray for him daily, and if he goes through these special occasions with his daddy, then I am confident that he will go out into the world with a sure footing on a foundation. Not that he won't stumble, but he will know what it means to be a man of integrity and a man of God.

One thing that really stuck out to me in this chapter, that even if you have girls, if you are teaching your sons what it means to be a Godly man, that means your daughters are growing up hearing the same teaching, seeing the same actions. They are learning what a real man is, which means as they get older, they are more apt to look for these same qualities in the man they marry some day....pretty cool to think about. I know as a girl going off to college, I was pretty gullible. I'd never really had a boyfriend, and then at college, everything started to hit all at once. It was a very tumultuous time for me. Not that I didn't have good teaching; I had the best parents any girl could have. Leaving that nest, though, brought with it a freedom that I had no idea what to do with....which is the way it is for a lot of our kids.

Some day our young pages, squires, and princesses will grow up to be knights and queens, but only if we raise them up in the admonition of the Lord....only if we let the Lord lead every action we take and every decision we make concerning our children. We have to teach our kids about life by living life with them each and every day. We have to show them what real life is and what it's all about. It's such a daunting task, but if we don't do it, who will? Pretty scary thought....

I'll leave you with one last thought from Lewis:
"Many sons today are just like Ulysses S. Grant. They have a sense of themselves, a premonition that they were created for something significant, if only someone would notice them!
Someone like a father. With great clarity and regal pronouncement, manhood ceremonies tell a son, 'I notice you!...You are important to me!...You are important to the kingdom of God!...You have an important masculine destiny to fulfill!'"

Be sure to stay tuned for more next week....and leave some thoughts!:)