Living Lovely with Family ~ Milestones

Direction is more important than speed.

We are so busy looking at our speedometers

that we forget the milestone.

~Anonymous

Achievements, graduations, birthdays... how do you mark milestones with your children?

That is the question for this week's Living Lovely with Family.

Everyone is invited to participate. Share your thoughts and ideas on your blog and return here to enter the link to your post. Feel free to use the above image (or the smaller one on my sidebar) on your post or blog. Leave a comment if you have something to share, but don't have a blog link.

I don't have much to share this week, simply because my boys are so young that we have yet to meet many such milestones along our journey. A few thoughts that came to mind are memories from my own childhood, some of which my mom may share on her own blog.

The quote I posted above spoke to me. Life goes so quickly these days. Are we just trying to keep up, trying to get somewhere fast, or are we truly taking the time to evaluate our direction? Can we use milestones in our life to keep our journey on track?

I am suddenly reminded of a book I read a few years ago, Raising a Modern-Day Knight: A Father's Role in Guiding His Son to Authentic Manhood. I must get this book off the shelf and spend some time re-reading. Here is the product description for you:

What does it mean to be a man? Moreover, how does a father instill these qualities in his son? Using as an example the process by which a boy moved through the medieval stages of knighthood, author Robert Lewis identifies parallel stages for today's fathers to create ceremonies to commemorate significant milestones in a young man's journey toward becoming a modern-day knight. Beginning with a biblical perspective of manhood, author-pastor Robert Lewis shares a unique approach to shaping a boy into a man by equipping him with three essential elements: a vision, a code of conduct, and a cause (Christianity) in which to invest his life. Complete with ceremony ideas to celebrate accomplishments and ingrain them in his mind, this softcover is as insightful as it is practical in raising a boy to be a chivalrous, godly man.

Sound promising? While the book is obviously directed toward the father and his role in his son's life, I think it is a powerful read for mothers as well. We are studying the medieval period and knights this year making it a convenient time to begin using this process with Levi, as the images of knights and honor will be fresh in his mind and imagination. I will post another, more detailed, book review once I have re-read it and keep you posted on how we incorporate the ideas in our home with three boys.