I awoke this morning, yes even Sunday, at my usual time of 5 AM-ish. Tossed around in bed for a bit and then decided to get a few things accomplished before the rest of the family awoke and we started the “Father’s Day Celebration”.
Yes, I plan to invoke “it’s Father’s Day” frequently today (actually started last night so I could watch the Stanley Cup Finals game – sorry, Susan). But as I went about my morning routine (one of the dogs likes to go outside after inspecting the back yard for verminous squirrels, the guinea pig simply must have his carrot, and coffee must be brewed), I thought about writing a card to my kids, thanking them for the privilege of being their father. Because it *is* a privilege to be a father.
After the other tasks were complete, I sat down to take care of a small pile of items that had collected by my laptop over the last few days – a bill to log, the pin from Google to verify our Google Local Business page, coffee needs to go in our online shopping cart, email to check. And a certain e-mail led me to writing this post.
I subscribe to John Maxwell’s A Minute With Maxwell coaching videos but, I must confess, don’t watch them on a regular-enough basis. Today’s “word of the day” was responsibility, though. And some sort of karma told me I had just been thinking about that topic as it relates to the privilege of being a father. So I watched, and I was glad I did.
The theme of the message is To whom much is given, much is required. Wow. How true.
If I am privileged to be a father (much is given) then there must also be responsibility (much is required). Responsibility not only to provide and protect, but also responsibility for how my children develop and who they become.
A father has to have some broad shoulders to carry that responsibility, and had better be turning to the right resources for wisdom and guidance. I’m blessed to be involved with a business development organization that is made up of men who provide that wisdom and guidance, both personally and through distance learning resource, and that espouses the same priorities that I believe in (and in the right order): God, family, then business.
So, fathers, where do you turn for wisdom and guidance in your fatherly duties?