A letter to my nephew

My nephew and his looney hair turned 13 next week. My sister in law asked that some men in his life write him a letter and, as his uncle, I was one of the esteemed men to write a letter to him that she was going to bind together and give to him. Here is the letter.

Dear Daniel,

So your mom asked us to write you these letters about what it means to be man as you run head long into adolescence. It’s quite a task and one I’ve put off for a few days. I’ve ran different ideas of what to say, but haven’t actually put to paper my thoughts until now. In fact, my thoughts were a lot clearer before I started to type here right now, but deadlines always seem to get me going and your mom wants this today so here goes.

The question you may be asking yourself is what does it mean to be man? (Maybe you’re not, but go with me, here.) If you look at the media, you know, TV, movies, commercials, most popular music, being a man means being an oafish, lazy guy who always follows his baser desires for things like beer and sex, usually doing anything possible to ignore work and family. Either that or men are crazy with anger and hatred who push everyone away on the misguided belief that they shouldn’t show things like love and kindness. The world today has pretty low view of men, and there’s not much we can do about that. Except live our lives in a way that is different from the prevailing view of masculinity.

A real man is a man who works hard at his job, supports his family, both financially and emotionally, loves his wife with all his heart, and raises his kids with a loving hand. As a brand new teenager, you’re still a long way from some of these things. However, the decisions you make over the next 5 or 10 years will shape the rest of your life for better or for worse. Decide now to make education and hard work a priority. Decide now to have good friends who encourage you in the right ways than the wrong ways. Decide now to honor your parents. Decide now to keep your ego and anger in check. Decide now to delay emotional and sexual gratification until the right time. Decide now to make Jesus Christ first in your life. But it’s not enough to decide once and then go one. You must decide every single day. And when failure comes, and it definitely will, get up dust yourself off and keep going.

Daniel, you have a bright future ahead of you. I pray that as you move into this time of great change, you’ll always be focused on Jesus.

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Ephesians 6:10-13
Sincerely,
Russell