A prayer for a son.

              IF

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;

If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!'

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,

And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!
- Rudyard Kipling

 This is my prayer for my son today as he finishes his last day of school and carries the school flag at an Award giving function, and gives the final vote of thanks.

As a parent my utmost desire for him is that he will grow to be a man of good character and heart. That he will always be able to  walk with his head held high because he has kept his heart pure. 

I pray that  he will realize that a man's worth is not in the abundance of his possessions but who he is.

I pray that he will learn that the "fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom" .

I pray that he will learn to  Trust in the Lord  with all his heart and not lean on his own understanding alone. He will learn to acknowledge God in all his ways and see God make his path straight.

I pray he will learn to keep the main thing  the main thing i.e seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness...

When he has done this, I know that all his efforts at adding skill and knowledge to his life will bear much fruit. He will be successful in all that he puts his hands to.

 

God  bless you much our son Andrew John.

Navaz D Cruz.