Aug 07
16
Priorities
Posted by Stephen16
Tags: family, goals, staying together, work
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Tomorrow’s the day. Crunch time. All deadlines due. Friday.
We had a last-minute panic meeting at work after lunch today. People are really feeling the pressure: we finished our half-hour meeting in 45 minutes. Never had a meeting that quick before. For the rest of the afternoon there were six people working on one machine, three on another. Normally each machine would have one person, maybe two, working on it. The remaining two of my four machines are finished.
They brought in pizza to feed the staff, to ensure everybody would stay as late as necessary to get everything done.
I was working with an eye on the clock. I had no desire to stay late. The end of the day is difficult for Debbie and the boys, and I try to share some of the child-rearing load every evening. If I arrive home at 10 o’clock it’s hard on everybody.
So I compressed three days’ work into three hours. By the time I left at 5:30 my machines worked beautifully. It helped that there were so many people right there to delegate stuff to. I don’t know how long everyone else stayed. They still had a long list of things to complete and were all working at top speed when I left.
The family went out for a walk after the evening meal. Daniel was riding his bike, with Debbie providing instruction, direction, and the occasional push. Joel was running and climbing rocks. Micah was facing forward in the snugly, happy and alert. It was a beautiful evening, bright, warm, with a gentle breeze. We went along the trail down to the river. Joel threw in some stones. The boys raced each other (one on foot, one on bike). We climbed a retaining wall. We wandered around the neighbourhood.
The boys had their bath when we got home. Then teeth, bedtime story (“One said thank you”), prayers, and bed. No fuss. Happy boys. Straight to sleep.
It had been difficult to manage things so that I could leave from work at a reasonable hour. When I put the effort into leaving on time I didn’t know what kind of home I’d be arriving to. Daniel had left a message on my phone earlier in the day, letting me know that his day was not going well and that he was very angry. Some evenings are just a mess. Everybody’s out of sorts. Tired, hungry, grumpy. Tonight was not one of those evenings. But it might have been. Regardless, good or bad I wanted to be home.
At one point while we were out walking, I looked up at the clouds, I held Micah’s feet, and I chatted to Joel. I have a snapshot of that moment in my mind, particularly because I felt very grateful that I had the opportunity to spend this time with my family.
Work is hard. Raising a family is hard. Today things just worked out for good in both. What a blessing!
All generous giving and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or the slightest hint of change.
James 1:17 (NET)
