A Parenting Model Worth Imitating: A 3-Day Parenting PlanSample

Legacy of a Good Man

A good man leaves an inheritance for his children’s children.

Proverbs 13:22

Dr. Willis B. Dobson was a good man. He was also my (JCD’s) uncle. He earned his Ph.D. in Shakespearean English at the University of Texas and taught for more than forty years at a small Christian college. He worked for peanuts compared to what he could have earned at a state university, but he had other priorities than acquiring wealth. When his beloved wife succumbed to cancer, Uncle Willis rededicated his life to the service of others. At age seventy he began a taxi service for what he called “old people.” He set up a refreshment stand in front of his house for the trash collectors. One frigid night in December, Uncle Willis and his son, Bill, walked past a drunken man sitting on a curb. My uncle suddenly stopped, went back, and placed his overcoat around the man’s shoulders. “Why did you do that?” asked Bill. “That coat is brand-new.”

“Because,” Uncle Willis replied, “I have two coats and that man has none.”

Willis B. Dobson was simply following the command of his God (see Luke 3:11). He never received great acclaim for his selfless commitment to others, but he was remembered with deep affection by his family and was a role model for me. I hope I can leave that kind of legacy to my family.

Before you say good night . . .

• Are you modeling an attitude of service to your kids?
• What were your most selfless acts in the last week? In the last year?
• How can you do more for others?

Dear Father, the months and years speed by so quickly. Help us to live purposefully, remembering that our legacy to our children has little to do with money—and everything to do with how we heed and obey Your Spirit. Amen.

Excerpted from Night Light for Parents, used with permission.

And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. (Deut. 6:6-9, ESV)

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. (Col. 3:16-17, ESV)