Actions Speak Louder Than Words

This month we will celebrate fathers. It is impossible to overstate the importance that fathers play in all of our lives. I was lucky enough to grow up with a strong father's influence in my life. My dad taught me some very valuable life lessons...how to be strong in the face of adversity, how to handle that curve ball life will inevitably throw at you, and maybe most importantly, how to live a life full of integrity and beyond reproach.

Now that I am a father myself, I understand the weight of responsibility that accompanies the job. I know that not everyone is a father, but we all have people in our lives that look up to us, that are watching our every move to see how we will respond in any given situation. More often than not, it is our actions that teach. Our actions carry far more weight than the words we speak. Many years ago, I read a poem by Jeff Bresee that still resounds within me today...

The Mentor

© Jeff Bresee

I paused to stand and watch a man who had come to the road's divide.My wonder soared as I watched his stare slowly shift from side to side.He stood as if not noticing that many passed him by. They moved without a second glance down the road most traveled by.

Then as I watched he stepped full stride toward the path of lesser wear,And soon he vanished from my view round a bend into the snare.I soon, like him, stood center road, faced with that daunting choice. My gaze down his road, causing fear, I quenched my inner voice.

For miles I walked the crowded road breathing dust from others feet, Until in despair I stopped and stood, my heart and soul deplete. I gazed about still holding hope, the other path I'd see. On yonder hill I saw him there, the man who mentored me.

The path between us steep and rough, un-forged with dangers there, Yet still I left my path of friends, ignoring their bewares. I pressed through hardship, pain and fear o'er rocks jagged and bent. In time I crashed limp on that path, my every resource spent.

But then a warming touch I felt, a friendly voice I heard. It said, get up and tread this path. I rose without a word. And as I looked, I saw him there, he continued on his way. His only words as he walked on..."you're on the path, now stay".

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, and sorry I chose in err. But looking back, perhaps as well...all memories now seem fair. Much time I spent on the beaten path, and what I learned, immense. But I reached, at last, the other path, and it has still made all of the difference.

Inspired by Robert Frost

I want to challenge each of us to consider how our actions influence those around us. We may not realize it, but there are many people in our lives watching us. The question today is not what are you saying, but what are your doing?

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