Relaxing on a Saturday afternoon, listening to some great music in the backyard, I uttered out-loud a simple contemplation: “I wish I was in this band.” Upon hearing the statement, my daughter, just shy of 5-years-old, looked me straight in the eye and replied: “Dad, be the man that you are.”
Black Joe Lewis and The Honeybears
It took me a second to absorb it. Did she really just say that? Did she really just think that? Stunned and a bit puzzled, I took a big mental step back and thought about what she said. “Be the man that you are.” With one quick response to a simple Saturday musing as I listened to Black Joe Lewis and The Honeybears, she provoked a stirring of thoughts. I was reminded of a quote I once read from 19th Century writer Ralph Waldo Trine: “Do you want to be a power in the world? Then be yourself.”
We try to be our best (or we don’t and we feel guilty about it), but if we do not find immediate success, then rather than stay the course, we may wish to be someone else entirely. Wish for someone else’s good times, or fame, or wealth, or membership in a really cool band – it’s something we all have done. What fools are we to hope for someone else’s greatness when we have so much untapped power inside ourselves? This life, the one we breathe and drink and touch every day – well, this is the life we have. This is our here, our now, our reality. If we wish for dreams that can’t come true, then we may never tap into our true potential.
In addition, it is important to appreciate where you are. Soak it in. For better or worse, this is you, this is your life. Are you where you want to be? If not, you have the power to change it. But as you’re trying to get there, as you take a slow walk down the path to glory, why not just appreciate life for what it is? Why wish to be somewhere else or someone else? Why not smile through the tough times and the conflict? Find something good in it. In everything.
A good lesson for me for sure. And thank you to my daughter for reminding me.
By the way, that band really is sweet. If you like old-school, throw-down soul, mixed with high-energy funk and back-woods blues, then by all means, check out Black Joe Lewis and The Honeybears.
WHITE THREADS 
This is awesome Brad, thanks!
In your defense….Black Joe Lewis is exceptionally rad.
Thank you so much for this, really.
That reply comes form a pure heart, awesome! That was called a Blessing that you received from your daughter. Be the man that you are, wow? Can we be satisfied and contented right there in being a great father to our daughters? Your daughter is saying your a great father and she loves you just the way you are, now can you? Let’s face it, what we really are looking for and most don’t know it, is where the heck can we find peace, and joy from and hold on to it with a kung fu grip. And when you heard your daughter say that, it touched a part of your heart and you got blessed. Maybe it made you feel content for a moment made all the pressures of this world go a way for a moment. I believe contentment is a place we can live. I don’t mean that everyone should quit work, no keep working hard as long as it doesn’t take you away from your daughter for to long. Paul in the Bible found that spiritual secret hiding place and it provoked him to write it to give us hope, “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.” It requires as much grace to keep the heart right in prosperity, as it does in adversity, and perhaps more. Adversity, of itself, does something to keep the mind in a right state; prosperity does nothing. IN OTHER WORDS, having and not having can’t rule our emotions at all. What your daughter said to you, is a blessing that no size order can replace. Don’t miss your future blessings. I Have a 7 year old daughter and you have reminded me to tune in my heart so that i won’t miss any blessings that comes from her and I will strive to be contented if she is the only one that blesses me. Anyway I know Jesus, yes I said the name, is behind every blessing, all good things come from the Lord, so I will not forget that he uses people to bless us through. He is working in our lives always, and blessing us daily, but we just don’t tell him thanks because we can’t see him with our natural eyes. But when a man becomes born again, his Spirit becomes one with the Holy Spirit and you start seeing God in everything. What a blessing that is to know God as Father!!! Its awesome!!!
Brad, you have always been your own person, a one of a kind, there is no one else like Brad White and I am so proud I am your Dad. Because the way you are is one reason why Celia is the way she is. Love you, Dad!
Greetings! Very helpful advice in this particular post! It is the little changes that produce the biggest changes. Thanks for sharing!