Masculinity and Daddy

I was reading in Gospel-Powered Parenting the other day.

The deeper a man's relationship with God's Son, the more potent his masculinity will gradually become. ...

Boys learn masculinity from their fathers. ... In fact, numerous studies have shown that both girls and boys obtain their sexual identity by interaction with their fathers, not their mothers.

"Fathers must train their sons to be masculine and their daughters to be feminine," notes David Megener. "They must inculcate bravery and initiating, sacrificial love in their sons by teaching, example and practice. Fathers must train their daughters to be nurturers and to respond to the initiating love of a strong and worthy man. They can do this by encouragement and direction and by their own relationship with their daughter." (Farley, 138)

What a responsibility for the heads of household to bear. This makes me doubly thankful for my own dad, who (whether I knew it or not) pretty well shaped my idea of the man I wanted to marry and what loving leadership is.

And how we should pray for the dads among us, to rise up into this calling and raise a generation of little boys who grow to be strong, sacrificial leaders like Jesus and little girls who grow to give grace to and flourish in the leading and protection of worthy men around them.