{"id":633401,"date":"2022-05-20T01:13:54","date_gmt":"2022-05-20T01:13:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hillsong.com\/collected\/?p=633401"},"modified":"2024-02-29T10:55:43","modified_gmt":"2024-02-28T23:55:43","slug":"lessons-from-my-dad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hillsong.com\/collected\/fr\/blog\/2022\/05\/lessons-from-my-dad\/","title":{"rendered":"Lessons From My Dad"},"content":{"rendered":"

D\u00e9sol\u00e9, cet article est seulement disponible en Anglais Am\u00e9ricain<\/a>.<\/p>

<\/p>\n

I thought I\u2019d share some lessons I learned from my dad, Peter Stanley Lees Dooley, affectionately known as Big Pete (or The Destructor, if we were playing backyard cricket). Dad wasn\u2019t a perfect man, but he was an outstanding example for my own journey through life.\u00a0When I think of my dad, I think of a man who had much to offer, but nothing to prove.<\/p>\n

So here are three things I\u2019ve learned from him that have stood the test of time. I hope they bless you as much as they\u2019ve blessed me.<\/p>\n

1. Be humble.\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Humility often gets a bad rap. People equate being humble with having low self-esteem or being a pushover. Yet nothing could be further from the Biblical concept of humility. I\u2019ve always found the following definition by Pastor Rick Warren extremely helpful: \u2018True humility is not thinking less of yourself; it\u2019s thinking of yourself less.\u2019<\/p>\n

My dad got this balance of having a healthy self-image, without being self-centred, down to a fine art. What I learned from him is that true humility is a liberating quality. When you have no one to impress, it frees you up to give your entire attention to the things that really matter in life. You can get on with the business of living well\u00a0\u2013loving God and people, being there for your family, doing your life\u2019s work to the best of your ability and pursuing the things you love (in Dad\u2019s case, cricket, sailing and golf).<\/p>\n

Dad\u2019s self-worth was never caught up in his achievements. He knew how it felt to start at the bottom and rise to the top, yet success didn\u2019t change him. He remained the same great person he\u2019d always been, never putting on airs and graces. Thinking about Dad\u2019s attitude to life, I\u2019m reminded of what Paul wrote in Philippians 4:12\u201313 (NLT):\u00a0\u2018I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little.\u00a0For I can do everything through Christ,\u00a0who gives me strength.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

Growing up, Dad didn\u2019t have it easy. His older brother Len was considered the smart one in the family and sent off to university, while Dad had to leave school in Grade 10 to earn an extra income for the household. He got a job at the Department of Public Records, a government department in Sydney. In those days, everything was done manually, and Dad recalled filling in statistics by hand. This was exactly as tedious as it sounds, so much so that Dad\u2019s supervisor regularly fell asleep by about 3pm. Dad would give him a nudge to wake him up, and say, \u2018We\u2019ve got another couple of hours to go!\u2019<\/p>\n

While Dad worked all day, he managed to finish his schooling at night with the help of Uncle Len. The upside of working for the government was it had programmes that offered time off to study. Keen to do a degree but having no idea in what, Dad broached the topic with an older colleague, named John McMahon, who suggested Dad do law. Dad wasn\u2019t sure (probably because he\u2019d been told his whole life that Uncle Len was the smart one). \u2018Isn\u2019t law for smart people?\u2019 he asked. To which John McMahon replied, \u2018No mate, anyone can do law.\u2019 That bit of encouragement was all Dad needed to get his law degree.<\/p>\n

He ended up doing very well for himself, building up a large legal practice in western Sydney with two partners. At the height of its success, however, Dad left Matthews, Dooley & Gibson to look after his family. Mum was battling mental illness and no longer able to cope with things at home and Dad had to step in to take care of her and raise us boys (I have two younger brothers). Essentially, he sacrificed his upwards trajectory at the big, corporate firm and went into private practice, renting a small office as his base, so that he had more time for his family, where he was now both primary caretaker and provider.<\/p>\n

I remember visiting Dad at his modest, new office, which was worlds away from the shiny premises of Matthews, Dooley & Gibson. Yet none of that seemed to matter to Dad. He cared more about our wellbeing than any of the trappings of success. In this he was a truly humble man, putting his family above career success (which took great courage) and doing it with so much grace.<\/p>\n

2. Be kind.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Dad treated all people well. He noticed everyone, expressed an interest in them and remembered their names. In fact, remembering people\u2019s names was Dad\u2019s superpower. When he was in hospital with the brain tumour that eventually cost his life, he knew all the nurses\u2019 names and was on chatty, amicable terms with them. Whenever I visited, he\u2019d introduce the nurses coming by to check on him, and every introduction included some titbit about each nurse\u2019s life, like what her kids did for a living. It always struck me that even when he was in a fight for his life, he never treated people like commodities, but made everyone feel like they mattered because they really\u00a0did<\/em>\u00a0matter to him.\u00a0He loved people and was a friend to everyone.<\/p>\n

3. Give God first place in your life.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

My dad\u00a0loved Jesus as his personal saviour and threw himself into building a great relationship with the Lord. This was the secret to Dad\u2019s success.\u00a0As far back as I can remember, Dad loved and honoured God in good times and in the not-so-great times. It was who Dad was and how he raised us.<\/p>\n

Standing next to Dad in church was always an experience. He didn\u2019t just sing; he bellowed every hymn. As a kid, I was slightly embarrassed by this, but now I\u2019m proud of my dad\u2019s attitude. How he belted out a hymn was how he was \u2013 someone who gave his very best.\u00a0(The first time I spoke at one of our church services, Dad gave me some practical advice. \u2018Keep it simple,\u2019 he said. \u2018Three points and a poem and you\u2019ll be good to go!\u2019)<\/p>\n

For many years, Dad served as a greeter on the door at our Hillsong Hills Campus in Sydney with my\u00a0father-in-law Douglas Wylie\u00a0(or the Irish General, as Doug was affectionately known).\u00a0Dad would do these big cases during the week, appearing before the Chief Justice, and then, on Sundays, shake hands with people at the church door, welcoming them into the House of God, with a big smile and a few jokes, which he considered a great privilege.<\/p>\n

Let me conclude with what it says in Proverbs 3:5\u201310 (TPT), which I\u2019ve quoted at length because that was how my dad lived and how I aspire to live too.\u00a0\u2018Trust in the Lord completely, and do not rely on your own opinions. With all your heart rely on Him to guide you, and He will lead you in every decision you make. Become intimate with Him in whatever you do, and He will lead you wherever you go.\u00a0Don\u2019t think for a moment that you know it all,\u00a0for wisdom comes when you adore Him with undivided devotion and avoid everything that\u2019s wrong. Then you will find the healing refreshment your body and spirit long for.\u00a0Glorify God with all your wealth, honouring Him with your firstfruits, with every increase that comes to you. Then every dimension of your life will overflow with blessings from an uncontainable source of inner joy!\u2019\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

My prayer is that these verses will tell our story too.<\/p>\n

<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

D\u00e9sol\u00e9, cet article est seulement disponible en Anglais Am\u00e9ricain<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Here are 3 things I\u2019ve learned from him that have stood the test of time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49345,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49,15421,15414,8],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/hillsong.com\/collected\/blog\/2022\/05\/lessons-from-my-dad\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"fr_FR\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"[:en]Lessons From My Dad[:] - Collected\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[:en]Here are 3 things I\u2019ve learned from him that have stood the test of time.[:]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/hillsong.com\/collected\/blog\/2022\/05\/lessons-from-my-dad\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Collected\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-05-20T01:13:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-02-28T23:55:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hillsong.com\/collected\/de\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/hillsong.com\/collected\/de\/\",\"name\":\"Collected\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/hillsong.com\/collected\/de\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"fr-FR\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hillsong.com\/collected\/blog\/2022\/05\/lessons-from-my-dad\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/hillsong.com\/collected\/blog\/2022\/05\/lessons-from-my-dad\/\",\"name\":\"[:en]Lessons From My Dad[:] - 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