The Fight of A Family Man: A Guest Post by My Husband

There comes a time in every man’s life where things become more real to them, life itself brings on a whole new responsibility.  ME had become a distant yesterday in a split second, and WE becomes your marching orders.  My days no longer consisted of whether I’ve gotten my lift in, if I can meet my boys for a beer after work, or whether or not I can squeeze in a round of golf on Saturday morning with a few colleagues.  

For me this realization supplanted itself December 25, 2012 as I stared my newly born, perfect little boy in the eyes.  Holding him to my chest for a brief second as I handed him off to my wife, I recall looking up into the sky, thanking God for this moment.   

In the hours that followed I caught myself on several occasions in what felt like an out of body experience.  It was as if I was looking down on the beauty that has just transpired, my boy sleeping soundly on my wife’s chest, with me on my knees beside the bed and my arms around them.  

This is your team I thought to myself, this is your unit, and forever you will fight to ensure their well-being.  

We live in a society where the expectation of effortless perfection has become the assumed outcome for our lives.  We expect through little effort, the perfect marriage, perfect home life, perfect children, and to be able to provide the perfect things to make that happen.  

In reality, the burden of doing so inhibits our ability to focus on the fight we should be waging; the fight to empower and love our spouses and children to be the people God created them to be.  

Woody Hayes, a childhood hero of mine and former coach of the Ohio State Buckeyes, once said “anything easy ain’t worth a darn!”  While Woody may have been talking about football, let’s relate this to life.  As mothers, fathers, wives, and husbands, we want our relationships to be meaningful; we want to make an impact for the good – but as we all have come to realize, it “ain’t easy” and it’s surely “worth a darn.”  

SO FIGHT!  When your spouse comes home discouraged, fight their defeat with optimism and empowerment.  As your child goes off to school, bolster their confidence to be Christ centered leaders amongst their peers.  Each and every day we will be presented with the easy way out, a corner to cut which seeks to serve only our own self-interests.  This is the fight!  So lead from the front, find your strength from the Lord, and allow God to use you in amazing ways.      

These acts are our most solemn responsibilities as husbands, as fathers, as men.  2 Timothy 1:7 says “for God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline.”  The apostle Paul wrote these final words in a letter to his disciple Timothy as Paul awaited his execution in prison.  

This fight is real, and your enemies surround you day by day.  So fight for your wife, fight for your children, and fight yourself to be the father and husband God created you to be.