I'm on Spring Break right now. This year my family and I are staying right here at home. Now, I don't begrudge anyone a trip or an action-packed week away from the routine. But, it's only Monday night and I have already had a full spring break right here at the house. I have enjoyed holding my kids, and realizing how awesome it is that the sweetest most precious little people I know just want me to hold them. They lay their heads on my shoulder, wrap their little arms around my neck and leave me wondering if I'm dreaming.
I have played nerf basketball with a backboard and rim mounted over the top of a closet door, and lost. I have played hungry hungry hippos, and lost. My hippo jammed at a crucial moment in the game, and I was unable to regain the momentum. Happens.
I have put down a pallet of quilts and blankets in one of my kids' bedroom so they could "camp" right there in the house. I have laid down with all of them and read a bedtime story without a thought about getting up and going to work in the morning. When I told them good night, my baby girl told me that she loved me "too much". They were so happy when I told them that I didn't have to work this week.
They're only ever going to get one Daddy. They didn't ask to be here; they didn't choose me. I need the Lord to help me be a good man for them. My wife has spent the last six and a half years showing me what strength and grace are. She needs me to show her who God is as I follow Him and lead my family.
Free time has become as elusive as any endangered creature out there. When you do catch sight of it, what do you do with it? What message does that send to your family?