8-5, 5 days a week? Every other Saturday? 40 hours a week?  50 hours a week? Too many hours a week!!!  Let’s face it, we spend the majority of our day working away. We spend 8 hrs sleeping, an hour between waking and commuting to work, on a good day we spend 9 hours at work, then we race home. We’re tired, mentally and physically. The chair or couch is so inviting after an exhausting day at work. It’s 5:30 or 6 or 6:30, the kiddos bedtime is 8…what!?!?!  We only have roughly 2 hours of opportunity to bond, play, teach, parent, make memories, only 2 hours to be daddy!  This scenario happens 5 days a week and sometimes it’s interrupted by the overtime day where our 2 hour window gets reduced to an hour or we miss it entirely!  And then throw in the fact that mommy has been working double shift overtime all day changing diapers, making breakfast, then lunch, then dinner, changing diapers, paying bills, balancing the checkbook, playing dolls, cleaning house, changing diapers, and watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse so many times that it’s possible if she hears the Hot Dog song one more time it’ll be the last time Mickey is ever seen again!  Mommy is waiting for daddy to get home and take control so she can have a few minutes to relax from her day too!  Stay at home moms are no joke!  Don’t underestimate how much work they put in day in and day out. Their days can be just as cram packed busy and stressful as our days can be too. 

Add all these things together and we have a very short window to be SuperDad!  That’s SuperDad to our little one and SuperHero to mommy!  We need to realize the utmost importance of this time!  We need to quit thinking, “I’ve worked hard all day, now it’s time for some me-time.”  No, it’s family time!  It’s baby/kiddo time! It’s mommy time! Let’s put things in perspective, we have roughly 2 hours a day (if that much) 5 days a week.  2 hours x 5 days x 52 weeks = 520 hours / 12 months / 24 hours = 1.8 days per month during our work schedules. Are you catching my drift?  We have a very short window to be the best father, role model, super hero, SuperDad that we can be and we can’t take it for granted. We, as fathers need to seize every opportunity that we can to be “Worlds Greatest Dad”!  We are going to blink and realize that our babies are grown and I can only hope that we are taking full advantage of our time before it’s gone!  

I know, we have to work, we have to provide, we’re doing it for them. This is all true, but there’s a balance and we have to find it.  A man could work all his life and make all kinds of money. He could slave away to put food on the table, pay bills, put back savings for education, and everything he can do to afford all the things we want in life…but if he overlooks those 2 hours a day…he’s wasted everything. You see, 20 years from now I don’t think my wife and daughter are gonna sit back and say “I never got to see daddy much but I’m so thankful he worked his tail off everyday for us!”  It doesn’t work that way. Money can buy fancy clothes, nice cars, prestigious educations, and things!  But it can’t buy happiness!  Happiness isn’t found in things!  So quit living to work and start working to LIVE. Work hard, it’s our duty. But get the heck out of dodge when it’s quitting time and get home!  We only have 2 hours to make the best memories of our lives and that time is far more important than any hour at work will ever be. You see, 20 years from now I want my wife and daughter to sit back and say, “Daddy worked hard, but he always rushed home because he loved mommy and Audrey more than anything in the world!”  

Get your life in balance, you only have 2 hours a day!

Dear Audrey,

You and mommy are more important than any day at work. The Lord has given many examples of the importance of work in his Word and daddy will definitely work hard everyday. But as soon as my work day is finished, I promise you I will be rushing home to see you and mommy.  20 years from now, your life will be full of amazing memories of all the times we spent together as a family. I love you, my sweet girl!

Love, Dad

  
“The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.”  ‭‭Genesis‬ ‭2:15‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men,”. Colossians‬ ‭3:23‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“…: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat.”  2 Thessalonians‬ ‭3:10‬ ‭ESV‬‬