“I Want To Be A Model”….”For Good Character”

I am constantly trying to find those moments that I can share some grown-up wisdom with my daughter. I sometimes feel like the time is slipping away because in just a few short years she will be off to college and making decisions that will impact not jut her but those around her whom she chooses to share her time with. I think one lesson that is difficult to hear as a teenager is the lesson of character and what it means to your life. I am sure if you ask Taylor she can recite my words verbatim…but being able to share it without it sounding like a lecture takes lots of practice. What she is not old enough to realize yet is that I am talking as much to myself as I am to her. An anonymous author put the topic of character in such eloquent yet simple terms…"Watch your thoughts; they become words. Watch your words; they become actions. Watch your actions; they become habits. Watch your habits; they become character. Watch your character; it becomes your destiny."

I believe character is something you build. Trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring and serving others are the character traits I am working hard to build into my daughter and to also live those traits out in my daily life. In essence, “Do the right thing when no one is looking.” All of us at one time or another have suffered in the strong character department whether your issue was cheating on a test, lying to your partner, or not respecting yourself. I see the defeated expression on Taylor’s face sometimes when she struggles in one or several of these areas that will shape who she ultimately becomes by the end of her life. These are the moments when I talk to her in a way that she can understand at 15 years of age. We talk about how important it is to really like and respect yourself and when you are making bad decisions like not finishing a project you have committed to, or you lie to your parents about something, or you put yourself in a situation that you know is not healthy… those actions can play with how you feel about yourself as an individual and how others feel about you or your “character.”

Personally, the best lesson I can ever give her is by simply modeling these traits for her in my own life. I am learning that Taylor makes better decisions when I just give her blanket trust over a situation, show her respect by complimenting her and building her up over the responsibility she took over a situation or her actions. She respects me more when I am fair or do not blame her carelessly and when I am modeling the caring and serving her and others. Although at 15 she does not have these all down, she has moments of brilliance in all these areas. I have even shared with her as recently as yesterday that a negative character trait is a positive character quality being misused and that God will often take our biggest weaknesses and turn them into our biggest strengths. ”That excites me and give me amazing hope for her future.

I also believe with all my heart because of my faith in God that life is simply preparing me for eternity and that God is more interested in my character formation than he is in my comfort. So when times are hard, I lean on Him and when they are good, I praise him. In everything I do, I thank him because he modeled all these character traits through his Son Jesus...