The Birthday Present

The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice, and he who sires a wise son will be glad in him.  Proverbs 23:24

Wise Son – Today is my youngest son’s eighteenth birthday.  You will excuse me if I glow just a little.  I am proud of this young man.  He is a wise son.

What characterizes this hokam (the Hebrew adjective that means, “wise one”)?  Let me assure you that it has little to do with our contemporary standards of success.  My son is not the greatest student. He is not a high-achieving, Harvard-bound, entrepreneur.  He isn’t being recruited by the best collegiate sports teams.  His yearbook picture will be just one of many others.  But he is everything that counts in my book – and in God’s.

My son causes me to rejoice because he has a heart of compassion.  He is slow to anger and kind toward others.  He shows no partiality among people.  At six foot six, he is a gentle giant among his peers.  He knows what is right.  His speech is soft.  His eyes are gentle.  He loves life.

My son has somehow escaped the tumultuous disobedience that characterized his father’s life for decades.  For this, I am eternally grateful.  He may not become a millionaire or a famous celebrity, but he has what counts because he is focused on what matters over the horizon.  I could not be happier.

Parents look forward to the day when they can boast of the graciousness of their children.  Fortunately, our mistakes do not have to doom our children to despairing lives.  God is forgiving.  Without prompting, He often re-engineers our failures to bring about miracles in our progeny.  We are overwhelmed with His grace, for this is something we could never have imagined.  The greatest birthday present a father could have is to find that his child becomes a man after God’s own heart.

Today you can join me in thanksgiving for God’s grace to all children.  It is a humbling experience.  I certainly know that I was not the parent I should have been.  But the real Father is.

A wise son is one who knows the Father, and seeks to please Him.  That makes his other father very proud indeed.