TOO
BUSY

Topics: Busyness; Children; Fathers; God as Father; Love; Priorities; Relationships; Schedules

References: Matthew 6:21; Luke 11:11–13; Colossians 3:21

Several months ago, I talked to a man who described one of the most painful experiences of his life. When he was seventeen years old, he was a star on his high school football team. But his father, a very successful man in the city, was always too busy to see him play.

The final game of the season came around, which was the state championship. The boy was desperate to have his dad there. The night of the big game, he was on the field, warming up, when he looked into the stadium just in time to see his father arrive with two other men, each wearing a business suit. They stood talking together for a moment or two and then left.

The man who told me this story is now fifty-eight years of age, yet tears still streamed down his cheeks as he recalled that long-ago moment. It’s been forty years since that night, yet the rejection and pain are as vivid as ever. I was struck again by the awesome influence a father has in the lives of his children.

My friend’s father died not long ago, and as he stood by his dad’s body in the mortuary, he said, “Dad, I never really knew you. We could have shared so much love together—but you never had time for me.”

—James Dobson, Coming Home (Tyndale, 2000)