147: DadAwesome, with Jeff Zaugg (Part 1)

The glory of children are their Fathers.
– Proverbs 17:6 KJV

Friends,

Our sacred Scriptures whisper to us the invitation God has woven into reality for men to once again consent to the path and process of becoming fathers. The Proverbs winsomely teach us that the weight of the lives of our children points back to the headwaters of our faithful Father.

Who is he? 

What is he like? 

Is he available? 

Deeper still, is he interested? 

These questions, though often hidden below the surface, haunt us. They beckon the male soul to stop and think. They invite us to reconsider the impact of our own becoming, not with shame or regret, but with hopeful curiosity of the possibility of participating in a Father-initiated restoration. A God-orchestrated initiation. In a phrase, a story that is far larger than us. 

As I’ve suggested before, “Parenting, like everything else in masculine initiation, has no shortcuts. So I want to suggest that the first questions in raising wholehearted children turn right back on us: If I can only lead my child where I’ve gone myself, what’s next in my initiation? What is the frontier of my masculine soul? What is it that I am intimidated to engage, but that I know is essential to wholly enter the life that I was meant to live? Thankfully, God is the great Initiator, and our great work is simply and bravely to respond to his particular invitation. When we give him our yes, we become what we most want to offer. And in becoming, we will find the path to shepherd our children in the way that is good and right for their souls. Only on this path of responding to our Father for the initiation of our hearts as men can we release outcomes in our parenting and find joy in whatever unfolds. For them and for us.”

Come along into a conversation with like-hearted son, student, and father Jeff Zaugg, founder of DadAwesome, as we consider fatherhood and return to curiosity, hope, and strength in a Good Father. 

For the Kingdom,
Morgan