Went to the 8am service at the Anglican cathedral in Adelaide. The sermon was on the story of the prodigal son (google it).
The short version is a father has 2 sons and the younger one convinces dad to give him his inheritance and he moves to another country and loses it all through dodgy living and ends up working as a badly treated farm hand and decides he'd be better off working as a farm hand for his dad who apparently treats his farm hands well. So he returns home. Dad's super excited and throws a party. Older son gets angry. Feels resentment that he's stayed home and worked the farm with no recgnition or thanks.
One message one can take from this is that it's the older son who's actually lost. We, men, can see what we know and that's we don't pick the subtleties in human feeling. So we as dads can use the learning as a prompt to ask ourselves so we know how our kids are travelling?
Kids or people who are slaving away out of loyalty should recognise that what was once altruism can turn and eat away at our soul.
The key being communication. Making sure the atmosphere is conducive. That you listen and speak as appropriate.
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