Tag: Love

Adventure, Life, Stories

A Manifesto of Fatherhood – Revisited

Mark Wayne

Happy Day after Fathers Day to Everyone!

A little different post for Motivation Monday this week. I want to encourage parents, both fathers and mothers. This post is written from my perspective as a father, but it can apply to those moms who are parenting alone and filling both roles.

I hope every father had a great Fathers day. Now that the day set aside to be all about you is over, it’s time to get back to being the father your children need. Your influence and impact will either set them up for success or failure in life. You are their protector, comfort, soft place to land, compass, rock and shelter from the storm.

February 2020

For fathers of daughters, as I am, who you are as a man will influence how they view other men. How you love and treat them, how you love and treat their mother will impact their belief and trust in other men.

Fathers, show your daughters what a real man is, and how a real man treats a lady. #MotivationMonday #FathersDay #EverydayYouAreADad #HappyDayAfterFathersDay

“Think of the impact we would have if came alive as fathers. Your children will grow up and affect the lives of countless others and their children will go on and do the same. This ripple effect – this opportunity of compounding influence – has got to overwhelmingly dwarf whatever the majority of us may hope to accomplish at our jobs. Love your kids, men. Teach them to be strong, dedicated, focused, gentle, fierce, loyal.” ​​​​​​​- John Lovell, Warrior Poet Society

Love your kids, men. Teach them to be strong, dedicated, focused, gentle, fierce, loyal.” ​​​​​​​- John Lovell, Warrior Poet Society @johnlovell275

February 2017

The original post below was written back in 2013 when my daughter was 7 1/2 years old. She is now 15 1/2 and the words are as true today as they were then.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Father / Daughter Dance - February 2013"
February 2013

Knowing that, God willing, no matter the circumstances, I will always be a daddy to my little girl;

Knowing that, God willing, my daughter will one day be an adult and leave to follow her own path;

  • I will love my daughter for the gift that she is, not what she does
  • I will cherish every moment we spend together
  • I will strive to give her whatever wisdom I might possess
  • I will teach her the value of relationships & honoring promises
  • I will allow my daughter to soar upon her own wings
  • I will let her go to travel the path God has laid before her

“May the Lord give me the wisdom to parent with love, humility and strength, to give my daughter only and always the best that I can offer.”   ~M

Summer 2010

“Life affords no greater responsibility, no greater privilege, than the raising of the next generation.” ~C. Everett Koop

I encourage you to now write your own manifesto!

Life, Poetry, Writing

Are We On the Threshold of Hell?

Mark Wayne
~C.S. Lewis “The Screwtape Letters”

What’s becoming of our world?

What’s becoming of us?

So much anger, envy and hate. I think C.S. Lewis got it right. How have we strayed so far from loving one another? We can and must be and do better than this.

Be angry and do not sin; ~Ephesians 4:26

With all that is going on it is a time to be angry. But let it be a righteous anger that leads to better things. Not sin, hate and more destruction.

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.
~Edmund Burke

The world needs warriors right now. Those who stand in the gap for others with honor and integrity. Warriors who will fight against the darkness, beginning with the darkness in our own hearts.

#JustBelieve #HopeLives #LoveChangesPeople

Be a Warrior!

Animals, Life, Poetry

Remain Who You Are

Mark Wayne
“Silver Sight”

Sometimes,

it is enough

to remain

who you are

as the chaos circles

around you.

#JustBelieve #HopeLives #LoveChangesPeople

Praying each of you and your family is well and finding peace in the midst. What are you doing to stay sane and mentally healthy during these times of chaos and uncertainty?

Adventure, Poetry, Writing

Reflections

Mark Wayne
Reflections in the waves …

Reflections in the waves spark my memory, Some happy some sad ~Styx “Come Sail Away” #Lyrics #Truth #Music #Memories

Sometimes we need to get away
To disappear and disconnect
Into the wild and unfettered
Away from the responsibility
The chains of obligation
That bind us day to day

What do you do to get away and disconnect?

Life, Photograph, Writing

Time Never Cares

Mark Wayne

Time never cares what we do it just marches ever forward. There is no turning back when you realize what you regret. #LiveIntentionally #ChooseWisely #BeKind

“Contemplation” Photo of Dungeness Bay near Sequim, WA

Each day and each moment offers us an opportunity to make a difference. To touch a life and help even one person breath easier, even for a single moment. How often do we allow those moments of opportunity just slip away as time moves on?

In these times we find ourselves in, it has been said we should never waste a crisis. Well, now is the time to be intentional in how we treat others. Especially those closest to us, those we may find ourselves sequestered with day after day.

  1. BE KIND
  2. SPEAK LIFE
  3. LOVE FREELY
  4. FORGIVE OFTEN
  5. GIVE GRACE

Pick one thing from the list today and extend that to others and especially to yourself. Remember you matter too, and time will march on whether we act or not.

Now what will you do today?

#JustBelieve #HopeLives #YouMatter

Animals, Life

Today and Tomorrow

Mark Wayne
“Riding Bareback”

“Rest easy today and live your dreams, for we do not know what tomorrow may bring.”~M #Quote #Encouragement #Wisdom JustBelieve #HopeLives

What are you doing in the midst of the quarantines, stay at home orders, shut down of businesses, limiting of non-essential travel and just all around craziness to stay sane?

This picture is my daughter riding her horse at the barn. It’s a place we can go to escape for a while. Family is important during this time and making memories is still possible and essential. Our love for others should have no bounds.

While it often feels that many of our freedoms are slowly being taken away little by little, I leave you with this.

“When riding a horse, we borrow freedom.” – Helen Thomson #quote

Godspeed my friends. Now what will you do to today? Tomorrow?

Life, Writing

The Beauty We Always Miss

Mark Wayne

This poem was inspired by the following line from the Moody Blues song “Nights in White Satin.”

“Beauty I’d always missed, With these eyes before” ~Nights in White Satin, Moody Blues #Song #Lyric #Poetry

So often the true beauty, the adventure and the battle is right in front of us. Keep your eyes open, be ready, stay safe and steady on my friends!

‘Cause I love you
Yes I love you
Oh how I love you

Grief, Poetry

However, I Have Felt the Drift Begin

Mark Wayne
An older photo of the Columbia River in Central Washington.
The howling wind
Convicts our souls
While looking back
We search for truth
Along lonely paths
Hiding the regrets
However, I have felt
The drift begin

©Mark Wayne 2020

Struggling now with so many things. And yet I am trying to chose to continue to believe in a better tomorrow. My mind is confused, feeling lonely and this old picture taken years ago and these words penned in this moment capture how I feel.

#JustBelieve #HopeLives #LoveChangesPeople #YouMatter #BeAWarrior

“However, I have felt the drift begin.” #BlogPost #YouMatter #WritingCommunity

Grief, Life, Writing

She Comes Out of the Sun – “Hello”

Mark Wayne

“Hello” it was that simple little word that started it all in the fall of 1984. I remember the girl with long brown hair, tanned skin wearing a summer dress and espadrille sandals approaching the art table where I sat as the lyrics to the Al Stewart song The Year of the Cat rang through my mind.

She comes out of the sun in a silk dress running
Like a watercolor in the rain
Don’t bother asking for explanations
She’ll just tell you that she came
In the year of the cat

She comes out of the sun in a silk dress running – Like a watercolor in the rain https://youtu.be/tqW4xIr7nj0 Al Stewart “The Year of the Cat”

My voice trembled and I heard myself say with great effort, “I only want her to not be in pain.”

“That is all I am focused on.” He stated his voice low and measured. He gazed at me with a look of both sadness and resignation before turning and walking away.

Memory flooded back as I stood in the hospital corridor, the lyrics to “Peaceful Easy Feeling” by the Eagles chorusing through my mind.

I like the way your sparkling earrings lay
Against your skin so brown
And I want to sleep with you in the desert night
With a billion stars all around…

I get this feelin’ I may know you
As a lover and a friend
This voice keeps whisperin’ in my other ear
Tells me I may never see you again

I like the way your sparkling earrings lay – Against your skin so brown – And I want to sleep with you in the desert night – With a billion stars all around… https://youtu.be/NjofshOBV5s Eagles “Peaceful Easy Feeling”

This post is excerpted from my upcoming memoir, tentatively titled – There is Always Hope.

My first wife died of breast cancer at the age of 26 after battling over the last three years of our short five year marriage and yes, cancer sucks.

Over twenty-five years have come and gone and still there is not a day that something does not remind me of her. The twinges of memory flit across my mind as a butterfly haunts a flower.

Be sure to click the follow button and subscribe and be one of the first to receive email updates about the forthcoming book and other happenings. I would also love to hear your thoughts so leave me a comment. You can connect with me on Twitter @mwschutter, Instagram @mwschutter or Facebook @mwschutter

#JustBelieve #HopeLives #LoveChangesPeople #YouMatter #BeAWarrior