SHOW YOURSELF A MAN: Getting in the Club
Several months ago J. Diehl was asking what it meant to be a man - to be fully ‘in the club’ so to speak.
That’s a tricky question, but it’s something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately and thought it might serve to help if I talked about some principles that I feel contribute to maturity and stability in the lives of young men.
The first one is simple - and comes directly from David’s mouth. This was his charge to Solomon before he ‘went the way of all the earth: Be strong, show yourself a man.
To put it another way: you are male by birth, but you are a man by choice. It is self-evident that simply because a someone turns eighteen years old - he is not necessarily ‘a man’. (We’ve all me the unfortunate forty-year old who has yet to pass the test) Being a man involves many other factors - but I feel the primary factor is choice.
What you choose (and in a very real sense IF you choose) determines whether you stay a boy or emerge from the shadows of immaturity into strength. If anyone told you it would be easy they were not filled with the spirit of truth. It is a daily choice - and often a difficult choice. Embracing the difficulty, the labor, the toil with a humble spirit is a big piece of what shows you to have passed from boyhood (a state of constant dependancy and little consequential responsibilty) into manhood.
Show yourself a man: Put another way. Don’t tell me that you are a man, but show me by what you choose. Show me by what you pursue. Show me by restraining your eyes, tongue, and $$$. Show me by serving with joy and not complaining.
More to follow…
This was great Kyle. Very well-written, I’m really looking forward to reading more. I liked your closing especially, “Show yourself a man: Put another way. Don’t tell me that you are a man, but show me by what you choose. Show me by what you pursue. Show me by restraining your eyes, tongue, and $$$. Show me by serving with joy and not complaining.” That’s quotable enough to hang on my fridge
The thing I like the most about this post is that it is a choice each day. You have to choose to man up each and everyday of your life. Every time you screw up, make a mistake, drop the ball you take responsibility for it. You respond with integrity and humility, you embrace the fact that there are no other options but boasting in your weakness.
Getting in the club is not like a pog/slammer club, you have to do more than bring flashy pogs and cool looking slammers you have to live the lifestyle and put actions to your words.
Maybe my pog/slammer analogy is horrible—the point is: Choose to be a man.