I just watched the last hour of Invincible, the story of Vince Papali, who is played by Mark (y) Wahlberg.

That was a good simple story. The entire movie built up to the first win of the season for the Eagles that year. And it ended without the usual montage of “fast-forwarding through all the wins”.

It was inspirational.

Sports movies are often the most awesome stories in terms of inspiration. They’re often true, or based on truth, and they give us hope that normal folk can be giants among men.

I love these movies. I love to be inspired.

But mostly, it reminds me of the fragility of our society. Kids are brought up in a society that focuses on saturday/sunday matches between teams of sportsmen. It’s the modern day battlefield, and every Dad wants his son to be a warrior famed throughout the lands.

I’m going to go out on a limb now.

Society shouldn’t be built on families finding their inspiration in sporting heroes.

We need to build our society far closer to home.

Husbands should make their wives heroic. In their own eyes, and in the eyes of their children. Wives should do the same for their husbands.

And as Parents, we should be teaching our kids to find inspiration in what matters far more than sports. It’s a Dad giving himself to his wife, to his family. It’s a Mum who finds joy and happiness in her Motherhood. It’s obedience and humility and thanksgiving.

It is a constant challenge for me to show my kids the right kind of inspiration. I’m a big physical guy. I love my rugby. The smash and bash and battle frenzy of being on a muddy field of sporting combat.

But the best inspiration I can be is not to fill my kids heads with talk of this and that player, of this and that game. It’s to seek wisdom every single day I am a Father to my children in teaching them how to think, how to speak, how to act. In leading them by example.

I’m not going to get it right all the time. That’s given. We are none of us perfect. But my kids know who I am. They know obedience and kindness, grace and humility.

If we give our kids inspiration from our homes, we build a better society.

Stu Andrews has his own blog here, tells stories here, and gets opinionated about Rugby here.