“Smell His Breath!”
If you live in Eastern South
Carolina you have been like my family the past week and attempting to survive
the great blizzard of 2018 (1.5
inches of snow) that shut us down for five days. The city lost water, schools were closed and
just as everyone was ready to get back to normalcy after the Christmas season
we were halted in our tracks by a monumental blizzard!
It was during one of those days
that my wonderful wife gave instructions to our three children to “hurry up and brush your teeth because the
water is going out!” An hour or so
later our hygiene-disabled twelve-year-old was asked if he brushed his
teeth. He replied, “Yes, but without water
or toothpaste!” Don’t ask, just go with
it! Immediately, my wife belted out
“Gross!” and then the dreaded words came out,
“Reeves smell his breath…” I immediately thought, “Why me? You are the
one who asked him to brush his teeth!”
Thankfully I kept that thought to myself (until now), and went with
another thought that came to me. The
thought, “This is the job of a Dad.” You
see, as dads we are above all else called to die to self and serve our
families. The rest of the home feeds off
of the tone we set. If I am lazy and
lethargic my home will be lazy and lethargic.
If I am angry and short with others then my kids will be angry and short
with others. As the dad I set the
tone. Sometimes this is really good like
when I set the tone that we are going to watch football all day, and other
times this is bad like when I have to smell the twelve-year-old’s breath after ‘brushing’
without toothpaste and water. Either
way, dads, recognize that you are the leader in your home and earnestly strive
to set the tone which will bring blessing and strength to your family.
No comments:
Post a Comment