Here’s the thing about fatherhood: it’s a gift, not a sacrifice. I’m not leaving other things on the table or stopping doing other things to be a dad. This is where I want to be and this is where the real joy is. Work and ambition and the world pales in comparison to being able to build a family. Nothing has done the hard work of forming me more into the image of Jesus than these three little ones and that’s a gift.

Like a mentor has mentioned to me before, “imagine yourself without kids and I bet you’re more selfish, immature, and destructive than you are now.” There’s something about being a dad that starts to chisel the junk off if we are willing with open hands to receive it for the gift it is. Not every guy is a dad, nor is every guy called to be, but for those that are don’t forget to actually realize how much of a gift the role of father is and how creative God was to think this whole thing up in the first place.