Home school moms, does your husband need encouragement on how to be a good dad, balancing work and family? Read this important article from a father’s perspective…

By Frederic Gray

Recently, my good friend Joe Martin told me that everything he ever did well in his life was from a simple two-step formula:

1. He asked.
2. He did.

Joe asked people who had the results he wanted. He did what they said.

What about being a dad? Who do we ask?

Even if we do not have a live human in our life, God has given us a great cloud of witnesses that surround us (Romans 11:1-12:1), and many of them were great dads!

Think of Noah. He epitomizes the struggle that we face as dads perhaps more than anyone else. We struggle with the question: “What’s really important?”

Think of a time that you wanted to focus on work and your children wanted your attention. They simply wanted you without regard for the clock.

Maybe you were getting ready to go to work. Perhaps it was when you were walking out the door for work. Maybe you were in the middle of working.

It does not matter. You are then hit with the struggle…the question. What’s really important?

Is Work Most Important to Being a Good Dad?

Obviously, your work is the most important, because without your income, you can’t feed your family. Or, is it?

Obviously, your children are the most important thing. They are your children, given to you by God. Anyone can do your job. But only you can raise your children, right?

Is that really true?

And with this, the struggle becomes real. What’s really important?

Your young children will tug at you with heart-melting cries of “Daddy, daddy!” And then as adults, they will text you in the middle of your most important business meeting ever and ask, “Dad, can you talk? I really need to talk with you.”

Yes, the struggle is real. You may have already realized that I was setting up the quandary to make a point. Both your work and your children are important.

“But Frederic, anyone can do my job…only I can raise my children!”

That’s not exactly true. Yes, only you are their dad. Whether biological, adopted, foster or step dad, it makes no difference. You are their dad and you are in their life positioned there by God Almighty. So, yes, be their dad.

But, only you can do your job the way God expects you to do it. Do you really think that the job getting done is God’s main concern? No. It’s how we do the job. (Colossians 3:23.)

Noah Exemplified Hard Work and Valued His Children

In the most wicked age ever recorded, Noah saved all of his children. How?

Noah engaged in the 120-year job—the most arduous and taxing engineering and construction project the world has ever seen. He got the job done building the ark. He was a good dad.

And, let’s not forget what was at stake. Noah continued the human race lineage until the Savior was born. Had Noah not done his job as an engineer and not done his job as a dad disciplining his children, history would look very different.

Let’s learn from Noah:

• Focus on our children because they are important.
• Focus on our jobs because they are important.

How do you balance both? Therein lies the struggle. But, don’t stress about it. We are up for the challenge. Let’s be great dads, like Noah.

***

Frederic Gray is the founder of the Fathers of Faith and Daughters of Excellence father-daughter retreat, as well as the Unquenchable Love Marriage Workshop. For over 20 years, Frederic has been speaking into the lives of others. In his teens, he began speaking to youth. In his twenties, he began speaking to churches, schools, and business groups. Churches, schools, home school organizations, youth organizations, abortion counseling centers, lectureships, and conventions have invited Frederic to speak on issues pertaining to families, marriage, parenting, and concerns for today’s youth (including abstinence, student leadership, and healthy choices).