What do I pour into my sons?

I was reading this morning about a man who had never really known his dad….then he met him and they talked. They sat and worked through a weird conversation that seemed more like strangers conversing than it did a father and son.  Then, it took a turn, the conversation and the feeling in the room.  The son began hearing things the dad “needed” to say.  Mainly - “I’m sorry”.  The father said he was sorry for not being there for his son. Thirty years into his leaving the mother and their kids to restart his life with another….he looks into the eyes of his son with tears in his eyes and a beer in his hand, telling him he is sorry.  Then he comments in this son of his…on his abilities to write; he’s a writer.  He smiles and with those same tears tell his boy he can write!! He tells him how great he is and how proud he was of him. (Donald Miller; "A Million Years in a Thousand Years")
The son was not looking for affirmation from his dad.  But, affirmation is what he received and when he heard those fatherly blessings called words, he felt he needed them.  Strange.  True.  He says it was like he was pouring words into his spirit and that is what dads do….they pour water, thirst-quenching water, into the spirits of their children. That is the power of a father.
I believe I am so much of the man I am today because of my dad.
I pour into my boys with all I have. In my mind I do this.
I speak to them and build them up.  I let them know I love them. I give them affection and hug and kiss them. I play with them. We play baseball, we throw the ball around, we wrestle and laugh together. I take Wyatt fishing – he loves this! I will be taking Boone soon when he’s big enough.  We go hiking.  We go exploring in fields and woods.  We DO lots of things together.  I include Wyatt when I am working on projects around the house….I want him and Boone to know and see what it means to do this or that.  I want them to not be afraid and to feel like they can do things and take care of themselves and of their families. I want to show them life. I want them to catch it….the adage of “more is caught than is taught” – so life happens in between the lines.  Or, does it.  I believe it does….and yet I also know the value of a dad who believes in his sons.  I know the value of a dad who is leader and friend and hero of his sons.  I know the value of a dad.  I know the value of favoring and counting on this constant of relationship for life.  My thought, here, is that I would speak these things into my sons’ lives as well. 
I want to empower them in not only my actions as their daddy…but as their hero, their daddy who lets them know how important they are, their mommy is, and our family is.  I want them to know, from my own mouth, that I am proud and that they are GOOD.  That God has made them Good and He is pleased in them – they are His.  That is my hope.  It’s like telling Olivia that she is beautiful – she lights up and she lights up the room as she enters it……when I tell my sons they are good and I am proud of them – in the purest of ways; it is good.

Thanks be to God for sons and dads.  Thanks, Dad.  Thanks, Olivia. Thank you, Jesus.  I love you, Wyatt and Boone.

Blessings,
-ao