Despise Apathy

This image is on our desktop right now. Everytime I sit down to the computer and jerk the mouse to wake it up, this image bursts into my sight creating this overwhelming sense of joy and happiness. Sadness has to flee when I see my boy smiling ear to ear at me. I love my kids. I love my wife. They keep me going.

Sure I find my purpose and my reason in Christ. But my wife and my kids give clarity and direction to that purpose.

Is it scary, knowing that they look up to me as their leader, as their spiritual guide? Absolutely! Does it make me want to cower in fear, afraid that I may mess up or make a mistake that my kids might emulate? Of course. But do I stop pushing forward because I might fail? No. So, what if I step out in courage to be a leader and a provider for my family and it ends in failure? Here's what I learned from Gary Thomas, a godly dad and writer, in Sacred Parenting:

"Courage doesn't always get rewarded with success . . . For the sake of the kingdom, we have to despise apathy more than we fear failure. I don't know of a single activist who hasn't embarassed himself or herself by at least one instance of a serious lack of judgment or restraint. But their occasional failure looks glorious compared to the deafening silence of the masses who, out of fear, never leave their spiritual beds."

That's what I plan to do. Despise apathy more than I fear failure. Get out of my spiritual bed every morning. Do something.

We can't sit around. As parents, as employees, as godly men and women in a depraved culture, we must not be afraid to move forward even if it means the occasional failure. And I'm thankful that in that propulsion, my family helps to bring clarity.