There is a legend of a medieval sidewalk superintendent who asked three stone masons on a construction project what they were doing. The first said he was laying bricks. The second described his work as that of building a wall. But it was a third laborer who demonstrated genuine esteem for his work when he said, “I am raising a great cathedral.”

Pose those same questions to two fathers concerning their role in the family, and you are liable to get the same contrast. The first man may say, “I am supporting a family,” but the second may see things differently and say, “I am raising children.” The former looks at his job as putting food on the table, but the latter sees people from God’s perspective in that he is shaping lives. To shape lives, suggests that the sculptor is at work cutting and chipping, chiseling out of raw material a beautiful object of art.