Last week I got creative with our family white board, which we usually use for Scripture teaching or school-related work.

As my children curiously watched me grab one dry-erase marker after another, I drew a picture of my brain in the middle with lots of bubble-captions all around it. Each bubble consisted of something that is currently weighing on my mind.

And I ran out of space on the white board trying to list everything!

My goal was to show my wife and children all the things and “projects” that consume much of my thoughts so they would know why I often feel overwhelmed and “focused” much of the time.

This morning I told my wife I was transferring all these “thoughts” into a text file on my computer.

That’s when she dropped a bomb on me. A huge bomb.

She said… “Make sure you include your children on your list.”

Ka-BOOM! Whoa! I had not even so much as written their names on the white board!

And yet, outside of my faith and my wife, they are the highest priorities in my life. Or are they?

Why did I not start at the top of the white board by listing my wife and children first??? Probably because I take them for granted too much of the time. Truth be told, it is more like MOST of the time.

This was a convicting reminder, once again, that I have to be continually INTENTIONAL — even VIGILANT — about communicating to each person in my family how important they are to me.

And not just with my words, but also with my time, my schedule, my actions.

That means some of the things on my white board won’t get done. At least not as soon as I want them to. But that’s part of being a family dad. We know the importance of prioritizing our family, and we are willing to “cheat” other things in our life so that our wife and children get more of our time and attention when they need it.

So… What’s on your white board?

Time for me to go make some modifications to mine.

From one family dad to another,
Joey Watkins
Host of FamilyDads.com

Our Family Whiteboard

As we wind down 2008 and shift our focus to the new year ahead, I’d like to give you what I consider to be a very, very important “Dad Tip.”

Here it is:
Create a list of “must-read” books that you believe will benefit you greatly and help you improve in the area of being a better husband and dad this year.

Then, start reading those books, one at a time. And keep your list on your night stand beside your bed.

Now, depending on how much of a reader you are will determine how many books will be on your list. But I suggest at least one book a month.

There are a surprisingly growing number of books out there that have been written just for us dads on fatherhood and marriage.

One book that I STRONGLY recommend you put at the top of your list — to read at the beginning of the new year and not later on — is a quick but very helpful book by Andy Stanley called “Choosing To Cheat: What Happens When Work and Family Collide.”

I would give a copy to every FamilyDads subscriber if I had the financial means to do so. That’s how strongly I feel about this book.

I know from personal experience after reading and applying to my own life and family how radically transforming the truths in this book are.

The basic premise is that we all cheat. That is, we all make decisions every day to give up one thing in order to gain something else that we consider is of greater value.

Sometimes we cheat in a “good” way, like when we cheat our tastebuds and say no to dessert for the benefit of our waistline.

But all too often, when we apply “cheating” to the arena of our schedule, we are faced with a variety of choices and opportunities that are each competing for our attention — our most valuable resource — our TIME.

Work… Family… Hobbies… House Projects… Sports…

The list is endless.

Andy Stanley has spent hundreds of hours with dads who have cheated their families for the sake of their career goals.

One decision after another to work late at the office and cheat family time. Or cheat our children’s ball games and activities because of workloads and work deadlines.

But without making significant changes, cheating our family has the potential to erode the foundations of even the strongest marriages — and damage our relationships with our children.

The solution, strangely enough, is similar to the problem. Both involve cheating.  Simply put, we must choose to cheat at work rather than at home.

Choosing To Cheat is ultimately a book about establishing priorities — those things we say “yes” to even when it means saying “no” to other important things. It is a principle that is already at work in our lives.

When we choose to cheat in accordance with God’s priorities for our lives, it is an invitation for Him to bless us and our family in ways we never dared to imagine.

What will be your priorities in 2009? What will you choose to cheat?

Learn More and Order “Choosing To Cheat” for yourself, or as a gift for a fellow dad, co-worker, or friend, at DadResources.com, the bookstore that supports FamilyDads–
http://www.DadResources.com/product.asp?itemid=15