Rush, rush and keep on rushing!
Every year we have very good intentions to spend less time at work and more with the family, but these intentions are swiftly blown out of the door as we soon become too busy with work and other things.
And do you know what? The devil is rushing us. He pushes us to rush even more, faster, harder, after more money, because he knows that it will make us too busy to spend real quality time at home and that the cracks will eventually become craters.
God appointed us to take our children by the hand, to help them on the road of life and to make the right choices. However, we must earn it and the only way we can earn it is to spend time – real quality time – with our family.
Just listen to me preaching to myself!
All of us are guilty. Most days we leave home before the children get up. And no, the kiss on the cheeks of sleeping children do not settle our debt.
After work they often have to eat dinner without us, because you see, we have to finalise some last details for the business. We are busy working ourselves out of our position as father and mother, as educator, as corrector, as friend, as chastiser of our children. If we do no spend quality time with our children, we lose our authority and what we say in the home becomes a soft mumble which nobody listens to.
Still preaching to myself!
You have a part to play: 4Fathers (and mothers), don’t exasperate your children by coming down hard on them. Take them by the hand and lead them in the way of the Master.
A friend tells the story that when his son was small, he had decided that it would be funny to say something bad to the friend playing with him. The little boy was devastated and he didn’t want to play there anymore. After a while the parents, obviously the last to find out what had happened, had to chastise their son.
Some parents still believe in spanking with the wooden spoon, because that sometimes speaks louder than words. But we also have a responsibility to explain exactly to our children what impact their words can have. The boy had to understand that what he had said was not funny at all, but that it actually hurt someone else. Eventually he had to present the other boy with a soppy card and a chocolate. And after a minute or so the two boys were wrestling together on the lawn again.
Could my friend have helped his son on the road of life if he did not have a relationship with him? I don’t think so.
Stop for a minute and listen to what your family is asking you. Have you stopped and spent time with them lately?
Reflection
How much time do you spend with your family?
Is it enough?
What can you do to spend more time together?
Prayer
Heavenly Father, thank you for being an example of loving and caring and always being there for your children. Please help us as parents to follow your example and to be always available when our children need us. Amen
