Just a concept I want to apply to my own life...

As quoted from The Unshakable TRUTH by Josh McDowell and Sean McDowell.

Accepting others as Christ accepts us means we must take the time to be with people.



The pressure was on. The book deadline was fast approaching, and I (Josh) needed to focus on writing and editing. Although the memory of this experience takes me back more than 30 years, I recall if vividly. I was right in the middle of editing a chapter when two-year-old Sean wandered in.


“Want to play, Daddy?” he chirped expectantly.


As an experienced parent (we had already been through the two-year-old stage with Kelly), I should have realized that Sean really wanted only a hug, a pat, and a minute or two to show me the new ball he was carrying. But I was working on an “important” chapter and felt I just didn’t have even two minutes to spare.


“Son, how about playing a little later?” I replied. “I’m right in the middle of a chapter.”


Sean didn’t know what a chapter was, but he got the message. Daddy was too busy, and he’d have to leave now. He trotted off without complaining, and I returned to my manuscript. But my relief was short-lived. Dottie soon came in and sat down for a “little chat.”


She began, “Honey, Sean just told me you were too busy to play with him. I know that this book is important, but I’d like to point something out.”


“What is that?” I asked rather impatiently, because now my wife was keeping me from my all-important project.


“Honey, I think that you have to realize that you are always going to have writing to do, and you are always going to have deadlines. Your whole life will be researching and doing similar projects. But you’re not always going to have a two-year-old son who wants to sit on your lap and ask you questions and show you his new ball.”


“I hear what you’re saying,” I said, “and you make a lot of sense as usual. But right now I’ve got to finish this chapter.”


“All right, Josh,” she said, “But please think about it. You know, if you spend time with our kids now, they will spend time with us later.”


I did think about it, and the more I thought, Dottie’s gentle words were like a knife slicing me to the core. She was right. I would always have deadlines to meet, contracts to fulfill, phone calls to answer, people to see, and trips to take. But my children would only be children for a short time. Soon the years would sweep by. Would I have any more time for them next year than I did this year?


I knew what the answer would be if I didn’t change my ways. Quietly, without any big speeches of fanfare, I made a decision. I took Sean out in the yard and tossed the ball with him for a while. Ever since, I have tried to place my children ahead of my contracts, deadlines, and the clamor of a world that wants me to get back to them ASAP. And it has paid off.