Priority: Home

Posted on July 1, 2009 
Filed Under Fathering, Marriage, Parenting, Personal

Despite the rather high visibility I have with my role at Focus, there’s something that is far more important to me in life.

I’ve made note on many occasions and to many friends that at 5:30 p.m. its time for me to leave the office and go “home to my real job.” I have a growing awareness of the fact that I am the only husband to Dena, the only dad to my kids. And so I try to mentally gear up as I make the 20 minute drive home in the afternoon. I try to think through how their day might have gone, what Dena might need from me when I walk in the door, and perhaps most importantly, I try to think through how I might be a good father. And I pray God guide me in the evening hours, so I can be the best spouse and dad.

True confession time. I fail at this a lot. It is a constant struggle to turn the corner from the office – where I enjoy a level of control over my schedule and I can choose, to some degree, what I do with my time – to the home, where the noise level seems overwhelming at times, the activities are child-centric to a great degree, and my wife deserves a lot of my time and energy.

Comments

2 Responses to “Priority: Home”

  1. W. Mark Whitlock on July 1st, 2009 8:12 pm

    I’ll never forget Josh McDowell talking about how he transitioned home from the office or the airport after a trip. There was a bridge a few miles from his home. No matter what the weather, he would roll down his window and throw an invisible package over the fence into the river. Inside, he said, he placed all of the day’s worries, the to-do items left over from the day, and the stress.

    This physical act helped his mind and spirit make the turn toward home.

    He also joked that the package always seemed to climb back into the car the next morning on his way back to the office.

    John, your failure (and mine) means that you’ve set a standard. Keep looking at the standard, not your missing of the mark. I’ll do the same.

  2. Fred on July 10th, 2009 3:54 pm

    I would like to see Focus on the Family spend more time on working to improve access to medical care in this country and improving maternity leave benefits to mothers so that they may spend more time at home with their children instead of having to go back to work almost immediately and turning the child over to day care providers.

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