Avid Graduation Quotes

You can take a kid to a thousand lessons and offer them the finest tutors, but that’s not the objective of a parent. Your main task here is not to impart skills. You do not exist to make your kids marketable to the corporate world. You are here to shape character as securely and fully as you can before they leave your home.

A very wise counselor friend of mine put it another way. After observing his own kids and the young people he works with in his practice, he said the correct answer to the question, “When should I get my child a smartphone?” is “Whenever you want their childhood to end.” Your kid gets just one childhood, and they get just one you to protect it.

Our default setting is to stay comfortable, to stay clean from the mess. That means sticking to our own areas of expertise and excusing ourselves from the parts of life that make us say, “I have no idea what I’m doing.” But that’s not what men are called to do. We’re called to take part in God’s “family business” of entering into chaos and bringing order.

In our affluent Western culture, growing up for many of us is weirdly optional. Historically, men have had no choice but to grow up. They had to work to eat. They had to defend themselves, their families, and their communities. But most of us here and now can choose the life of an entertainment consumer, just moving from one experience to the next.

to graduation, I would have to remain always. I did not take hold of my studies with avidity, in fact I rarely ever read over a lesson the second time during my entire cadetship. I could not sit in my room doing nothing. There is a fine library connected with the Academy from which cadets can get books to read in their quarters. I devoted more time to these, than to books relating to the course of studies. Much of the time, I am sorry to say, was devoted to novels, but not those of a trashy sort. I read all of Bulwer’s then published, Cooper’s, Marryat’s, Scott’s, Washington Irving’s works, Lever’s, and many others that I do not now remember.

we don’t need Dolce & Gabbana Belt Buckle Preacher Guy. In a subscribe-to-my-YouTube-channel world, we don’t need men of God who still need our constant admiration and approval. But a man who is able to sit and listen, to root for others, to be a voice of affirmation and guidance with no significant payoff in mind? Yeah, that guy is refreshing. There aren’t many of that type. We need more. We need you to become that guy. And this isn’t about taking on a tough, I-don’t-need-anybody persona. That’s immaturity too, because you’re still trying to prove something. The point is to recognize this desperate, yawning gap in our lives, this drive for significance, and find satisfaction for it in our relationship with God instead of in one more promotion or compliment or whatever.

Choose the people around you, the people closest to you, wisely. You’ll become like them. Their thinking will shape yours. They will help you order—or disorder—your values and desires. They will affect your attitude toward life itself. Do not underestimate this. They will change who you become.

So you’re a sinner? Yes. So am I. But we can’t let our guilt push us away from God instead of toward him. We have to keep interacting in spite of ourselves. Real, raw prayer—the kind where you’re thinking about what you’re saying—forces honesty.

If I know how something ends, and that it ends well, I have a totally different experience watching it or living it. There’s no reason to be anxious. The ref makes a terrible call? That’s frustrating, but not really, because I know how it ends. And Jesus’ words assure us that he knows how it ends. Death is the ultimate weapon of our spiritual enemy, but two thousand years ago, it was disarmed. God is ultimately going to take care of us. Plus, he said, worries don’t help, so what’s the point? Worrying about tomorrow just makes today miserable.

When we’re hit with a temptation that could destroy everything, we rarely think, This will destroy everything. It will cost me dearly, possibly for the rest of my life. I will live with regret about the ongoing devastation I’ve caused. But I’m going to do it. No, we usually narrow our focus to avoid thinking about what we’re really doing, which is misusing our freedom to hurt and destroy all that we’ve worked for and all those around us.

Women don’t want to be around angry guys. They want to be around clearheaded men who manage to get things done without the rage. Angry guys aren’t attractive. Men of action are.

If I want to shape who I’m becoming, I’ve got to put my mind on other things, better things, and I actually can do that. I am responsible for what I do with my thoughts. I can take them captive, Scripture says, and break them like an experienced rider can break a wild horse.

If I want to shape who I’m becoming, I’ve got to put my mind on other things, better things, and I actually can do that. I am responsible for what I do with my thoughts. I can take them captive, Scripture says, and break them like an experienced rider can break a wild horse. “We take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ,” Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 10:5.

Ask God for wisdom. It’s the most important thing you can request, and he promises he’ll give it to you. Wisdom will spare you and others around you immense pain. That’s the thing about foolishness: It always, always, always brings pain. As I mentioned, wisdom is knowing what matters. Wisdom is understanding the true value of things.

The great news is that God specializes in changing people. That is, when they’re humble. So you can become less needy. It’ll happen when you actively turn your attention to God more often, spend time praying and communicating with him, and ask him to grow your desire for him. Joy is a fruit of the Spirit. It’s something that comes from changing the inputs in our lives, altering our schedules, reshaping our habits, and putting our minds repeatedly on the right things. You can be the guy who’s a source of significance and blessing for others. You’ll still struggle with yourself, but you’ll become more and more like Jesus. The enemy tempted him with everything the world had to offer. Power! Significance! Prestige! And Jesus said no. He didn’t need it. He knew who he was. I hope you do too.

What we pay attention to is everything. We should note just how the word “pay” fits. Our attention is a limited thing, and we have to manage it like finances. When I’m “paying” attention to something, I’m buying a ticket so my brain can attend.

Do evil or foolish thoughts, or just plain dumb thoughts, pop into my head? Oh, heck yes, they do. But I can catch on. I can recognize what they are. I can replace those thoughts with better ones. I can get busy doing something else. I don’t have to beat myself up for stuff that pops into my head. When that does happen, I can move on. I have to move on, or I will never be the man I need to be, and could have been, for others. I can’t mess this one up. Everyone around me is depending on it. It’s the same with you. What you pay attention to will affect the people around you, for good or ill. If the keeper’s heart is lost, the garden is lost too.

We create ourselves over time. We are becoming something, and that something is more and more pronounced. People don’t suddenly become angry, bitter caricatures at age seventy. No, they were working on it a long time ago, step-by-step, decision by decision, attitude by attitude, reaction by reaction.

I’m a history nerd who’s been to Notre-Dame Cathedral, the Roman Colosseum, and Windsor Castle, and I’ve never heard any tourists talking about the amazing foundations. I never even thought about their foundations until now, actually, and that’s just the point. Men who are honorable serve as foundations for their families and communities, but they may never be fully appreciated.

Loyalty means not letting our sinfulness keep us from God. Focusing on our sin can push us away. Trust me, he is not shocked by our sin. He paid a steep price because of it. He knows we’re sinners. But as we continue to focus on living a loyal life, turning our attention repeatedly to him and interacting with him, we will change and grow. I’ve seen it happen in my own life.

A good father provides shelter—physically, emotionally, psychologically, and spiritually. If you’re a wise father who loves your children, you will shelter them. You will protect them. You will shield them. You will filter the world for them. You will do your best to know what and who is influencing them, even if it means inconvenience to you or feeling like you’re the only parent on the block who might care.

This is the part about ambition with regard to relationships, which, naturally, brings us to FAQ #1,214: “Brant, would you kindly illustrate what you’re saying by using a proverb about oxen?

To my great relief, I have realized over time that God really wants one thing from us, and here it is, so gird yourself: Loyalty. A believing, trusting loyalty. And it’s loyalty to him specifically. Loyalty through everything. No matter what.

The way Jesus explains the kingdom of God (and he talks about it more than anything else in the Gospels), it works very differently from the rest of the world. The weak are made strong. The last are first. The humble are exalted. The proud are brought low. The widow, the alien, and the orphan are valued highly. The unfairly treated are defended. The seemingly insignificant go to the head of the class. The lost are found. And the broken are healed. Imagine men like you and me taking whatever strength we are given to defend and expand that kingdom rather than our own temporary, throwaway, little ones that will never last.