Cultivating Lives

A men's small group that I meet with is reading through Rick Phillips' book, The Masculine Mandate. Literally, we are reading it together, spending about 30-40 minutes reading the book aloud and discussing it, then having prayer. We just completed chapter 2 in which Rick is presenting the mandate from Genesis 2, namely, to work and to keep. I particularly was struck by his comment in regard to work about the "cultivating" that man was given to do in the garden includes for us cultivating the lives of our wives and children.

I suppose it hit me because I had been reading in Sports Illustrated (I could read worse) the story of Jerry West (one of the legends of basketball in college and pro) who to this day struggles to find peace due in large part to having an abusive father. I had also been listening to a song by Dan Fogleberg (no comments on my musical taste, please) that is a loving tribute to his father, "The Leader of the Band." Husbands and fathers, now is the time to be cultivating the lives of your wives and children. Indeed, all men, now is the time for you to be cultivating the lives of others for whom you can be even now a positive influence.