If we don't have time for our children, someone else will

Josh and I attend the Marriage and Family class during Sunday School time. We have some well seasoned teachers (they have been married for 45 years and had 7 children). Every week I learn something new from them.

This week Bro Keller read a quote from Richard L. Evans.

"If we don't have time for our children, someone else
will. They aren't going to sit by and wait for us to make time. They are going
to grow up whether we have time for them or not. They are going to grow up no
matter how much or how little influence we have in their lives. They need
companionship, and they are going to find it somewhere. And if we don't give it
to them, the kind of companionship they find may not be the kind we could wish
they had found. They are going to find friends and form habits and learn the
ways of life under the influence of someone, someplace. And if we want our
influence, our standards, our environment to be uppermost, we'll have to do what needs to be done when it needs to be done, and not merely at our own
convenience, not when we have more time.

This quote hit me straight in the heart. I felt like he
was talking right to me. I was thinking about it so much, that I called and
asked for a copy of the quote, so I could reread it.

What is most important?

Yes, I want a clean house, a balanced budget, a cute blog, but when it comes to our
children am I making them a priority also. When they ask me to come play a board
game or read a book, ride bikes or throw a ball around what do I usually say.
How about a little later, I'm busy making dinner or cleaning the house, or
. . . It won't be long before they stop asking for me. Abigail already is
taking her first steps and wanting to walk away and discover the world. I need
to be better. I have to be better. This is my goal this week.