Becoming the father you have always wanted to be

Go into the future. Your children and the people in your life are 20 years older.

Write your children’s names and ages in the year 2025. (You can also write your spouse or if you are single write the names of some important people in your life)

A wise man can go into the future to predict rain, wind and floods and so he builds his house accordingly.

“Therefore whoever hears these saying of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to be a wise man who built his house on a rock: “and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.” Matthew 7: 24-25

1. If I stay to the path that I am on, what desirable character traits will they say I have in my life?

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2. If I stay to the path that I am on, what undesirable character traits will they say affected my relationship with them?

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Let us take more time to examine our selves more thoroughly. Good things in life take time. (Psalm 26, Lamentations 3:40, 1 Corinthians 11:28 and Galatians 6:4).

Here are some areas we could look. What would our children or the people in our lives say about us in the following:

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Our relationship with our self. Do I love and take care of my self? My mind? My body? My soul?

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What is my prayer life like. What would my children say about my prayers? Did I pray for what was important to me? Was I sporadic in prayer or was their a definite pattern?

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How did I express my love to them? How would they know that I loved them? What would each of them say?

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What would they say about forgiveness in my life? Did I ever ask for their forgiveness? Did I forgive them?

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What would they say about the role of play? What was the most fun thing I did with them over the past 20 years?

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What would they say about friendships in my life? Did I have any? Were they long term? Could I ask for help.

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Note: Your children will model after your life. Without saying a word they will pick up both positive and negative. This is good and bad news. Sorry, it is the way it is. The better news is that we have a living relationship with a Savior who is willing to change us—if we want it. So don’t try to change your children. Allow God to change us.

What would they say about how we treated our parents? (How we treat their grandparents is most likely how they will treat us)

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Would they say that I had fears? What do you think they would think your fears would be?

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What would they say about my choices of discipline? Did they think it was effective? What would each child say?

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This list is just the beginning. I hope it will be useful to developing a life long pattern of examining and allowing God do finish and complete a work in us.

For more information on Neuro-Linguistic Programming contact: Erik Bohlin, M.A., LMHC