It was another relaxing day with my S's today. It rained here too, early this morning, and most of the day was overcast until late this afternoon when the sun came out.
So we went to church this morning. S7 has graduated to 2nd grade Sunday School (I am proud of him for his enthusiasm.) Then relaxed the rest of the day. Let the boys play, read them stories (including more Narnia), had another art lesson with S7 while S3 took his nap.
Not very productive, but relaxation is an accomplishment in and of itself.
---- I forgot to mention I listened to a podcast the other day from Focus on the Family, one that has gotten me thinking. It was two parts of a sermon by Andy Stanley (the son of Charles Stanley, I believe) concerning how we prioritize our time. The basic thought is that life throws more things at us than we can possibly accomplish with the time given us. The various spheres of interests in our lives are all vying for what little time we have, and we're all under the mistaken impression that we can accomplish even a fraction of what we're presented with. Thus we have to be judicious with where we devote our time and energies because there are some things that are not going to get nearly as much of our time as we might like.
The question then becomes, who in our lives are we going to cheat?
Most men, and now-of-days so many women, put the focus on our jobs, our careers, and we then neglect our spouses and/or our children. We ask our spouses and our children to hang on with us, to be patient, while we pursue the demands of our jobs. We thus tend to put off those most dear to us in our lives simply because it is easier to do so with those who are the most patient with us -- but then we go and give that devotion to people who have the least patience or tolerance for us, our employers. Put like that it is yet another reflection of how foolish I had been as a husband and a father.
There was a lot more to this sermon that struck a chord with me, including a haunting analogy to what this can do to our loved ones, but which I won't elaborate on at this time. I will say that I have been duly indicted, yet again, for my own contribution to the demise of my M and family.
My main regret is in not having been afforded the slightest opportunity to rebuild what I have broken.
