(You can go to my blog list and visit Elder Nelson's blog to read the whole story.) Anyway, Stephen and I had a difficult time understanding the message behind that story. The speaker who told the story was talking about the youth and parents and how sometimes the youth think that their parents are too harsh or cruel. When they are just trying to protect them. It was interesting to me that Mike got the message right away and that it had such a huge impact on Michael. If you knew the relationship between the 2 of them you would understand. Michael has always been a sensitive young man. We were always very close, afterall he was our first child and it was just Michael for 5 years before we had Stephen. But coming from the background that I did I was always very protective of him and his feelings. Mike on the otherhand came from a very different background and his expectations of his sons is high, his patience is long and his determination strong. I am grateful for this, but when Michael was growing up he often mistook Mike's expectations as being too high and his discipline as being too strict. In fact it wasnt long before Michael left on his mission when he just started to understand that his Dad was just being a good Dad. I on the other hand, tend to be too lenient and too much of a pushover. It took me a while to see and then help Michael understand that his Dad isnt trying to be mean but that he is trying to teach him to be the best young man that he can be. Well, it is so nice to read Michael's letters and to see how Michael now gets it. He is so much of who he is today because his Dad loves him, pushed him and didnt let him settle for mediocrity.
Michael mentioned as a side note to me that he thought maybe his email was "a bit heavy", but that he felt it was important to mention. I am so thankful for missions and the many experiences that Michael is having that are helping him (and me) to grow in areas that are helping him to be the person that Heavenly Father knows he can be. He'll be a great Dad someday.
