Being A Father in 2015

Being a father has to be the most bizarre racket going. It's a role that many people have and nobody does quite the same. I suppose some do it poorly and others very well. Being a father to girls is surely different than being a father to boys. Being a father to one child is not likely the same as having four kids. No matter the approach, one truth cannot be avoided: The decisions I make for myself, as a person, directly impact the well being of my two sons.                                                                  

(Photo Cred)

So what's a dad to do? Every choice I make has potential upside and downside for these two. Not just in real time, but lasting consequences for better or worse could follow them for years. My health. My profession, My finances. My faith. My friendships. Each one of these areas requires decisions on a daily basis that influence how Aiden and Evan live and who they become. 

Complicating all of this is how little control over life's events I really have. I could lose my job tomorrow. So could you. I could be abandoned by my friends tomorrow. So could you. I could get life changing news from a doctor tomorrow. So could you. My house could be burned to the ground tomorrow. So could yours. Any one of these things would be a monkey wrench in the best laid plans or the most padded bank account. 

Rather than approach the new year as more of the same, I wish to run full speed into change this year for the betterment of my family. I wish to seek out opportunities that will allow us to give more than ever before. In so doing I am hopeful my boys see, and seek for themselves, a sustainable way of life as they continue to grow. I don't know precisely how it will happen just yet. It might come out of professional/economic changes. It might come from a small community almost eight thousand miles away.  No matter the avenue it takes, I have confidence that if I pursue life as it was meant to be lived, wisdom and greatness will find me along the way.
If I give my kids the example of a life lived as it was intended to be, I hand them the tools to a sustainable life of peace.
I can't think of any dollar amount that can purchase peace. I know of no schools that confer a degree in peace or peace related studies. These are the interests and pursuits of man, Peace cannot be had in such things.