Our Stewardship Matters

Today I read Ezekiel 34 where the Lord talks about those that did not take care of the people in their stewardship.  I often wonder what the Lord will say to me when I stand before Him.  I often wonder if I do enough.  I try to magnify my calling and do what I am asked to do.  I try and be a good home teacher, a good husband, a good father, but I wonder if I am doing enough.  I know I don't make it to the temple often enough.  It is hard to juggle everything that I know to be important. 

The one thing I know I am doing well though is keeping work in perspective so that I can spend enough time at home with my family.  I never wanted to be one of those men who worked all the time and never saw their families.  I knew from a very young age that the reason for working was to provide for my family.  But money is only one aspect of a families needs.  Money will not take care of their spiritual or emotional needs. 

More than anything children crave family time and attention.  When I am awake my daughter rarely leaves me alone and when I am at work, she calls me every night to say hi and that she loves me.  I know that more than toys, new movies, books or whatever else I could buy her, she wants to spend time with me.  Similarly, my wife would prefer I help her around the house to show my love as opposed to buying her new things. 

If you feel you are working too much and don't get to see your family as often as you would like, then you are right, you are working too much.  I understand that we have to earn a living and it has to be enjoyable to us, but do our children really need a smartphone a piece, a new tablet and a TV in every room?  Or do they need a pleasant home, nutritious meals and good quality time with their parents and siblings?  Read any article that talks about what people on their deathbed regret and everyone of them will say they wish they had spent more time their loved ones.  I have personally never read one that said they wished they had earned more money.  When this life is over, will you have memories of the office that you smile over, or the time you spent chasing your 3 year old through the house playing tag?  I know what I want to be thinking of when it's my time.  Each of us needs to make a similar choice and I would advise us all not to delay that choice.  Until tomorrow.