Being A Better Husband And Dad
Two weeks ago, I attended a conference for church leaders that featured Shane Hipps as the keynote speaker. When someone in the audience asked Shane about preaching, he gave an interesting answer. He said (and I’m paraphrasing here) one of the greatest things a preacher has to offer his audience is himself — body, presence, actions, being. One of the best ways to become a better preacher, he concluded, was to become a better being — to become more mature in the faith, more spiritually formed, more like Christ. Thus, Shane believes personal spiritual development/formation is vitally important for church leaders. And even though I’m not a preacher, that idea stuck with me.
I began thinking about my roles as a husband and father. Shane’s idea suggested that I could become a better husband and father by becoming a better being — more mature in the faith, more spiritually formed, more like Christ. I’d never thought about it that way. If you’d asked me before, I would’ve said the best way to become a better husband and father would be to read books or attend workshops on marriage and parenting. The more I think about it, the more I think Shane is right. I can become a better husband to my wife and a better father to my daughter by growing spiritually. If the best thing I can offer them is me — body, presence, actions, being — then it makes sense that I work on me (for my sake and theirs).
To be honest, I haven’t figured out exactly what this looks like for me yet. However, I think these are some key components:
- spiritual disciplines
- community
- intentionality
- time
Those are just a few. What am I missing?
