My favorite summer hobby is golf.  Last summer I enjoyed about 10 rounds of golf and my golf game was starting to come around nicely.  I even bought a new set of clubs, which I hoped would take my game to the next level.  Then something wonderful happened.  No, I did not get a hole in one.  No, I did not par the course.  The “something wonderful” was the birth of Anna and Elizabeth!  As all parents know, having children changes everything.  One of the minor changes from last summer to this summer pertains to my favorite summer hobby.  So far I have yet to go golfing and it is already September.  Do I regret this?  Absolutely not!  Instead of spending time on the links, I have spent more time with my family, and loved every minute of it.

As Stephane and I often say, the great surprise of parenting for us is how much fun it is.  Not that we thought it wouldn’t be fun – we knew it would be.  But we had no idea how much we would laugh and experience the joys of family life.  The little sacrifices that you make (like not golfing) really don’t matter in the end.  God gives you such joy and delight in raising children that the sacrifices you make don’t seem like sacrifices.  As we read in Psalm 127:3, “Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward.”

When I stand before God to give an account for my life (2 Corinthians 5:10), God is not going to be concerned with my golf game.  God has blessed me with a wonderful wife and two little girls, and I will have to answer for how I lead my family.  One of the best things that I can give my family is my time.  As I have come to discover, this is not a chore, but a delight.  May God richly bless you.