In the countdown of launching my Diary of Fatherhood, I was excited crossing my t’s, dotting my i’s, and trying to meet my target.

I had planned to use the few hours that I had this morning to upload some posts before heading to work. Kids are off to school, Sweetheart went out to run her errands, home is quiet and conducive for me to concentrate on my tasks. 🕺🏾

It felt too hot, so I went upstairs to turn down the heater. As I began to reset the thermostat I was drawn to look into the boys’ room and noticed that their night light was still on. I went in to unplug it and met a surprise: there was no electric outlet wall plate! 😮 “When did this happen? How long has it been? Thank God no one is hurt…” all rushing through my mind in quick successions.

“I’ll fix it,” I thought to myself but didn’t attach a timeframe, you know, like in task prioritization: Important but not urgent. “Wait a minute, this is important and urgent!” I succumbed.

Then I remembered that while we were getting ready for school, I had made a mental note to wash Ofu’s school shoes which were full of mud. Recently, he went ecstatic to be able to play in puddle after a rainfall, so his shoes have been left soaking in a bucket of muddy water in the game room bathroom, where he washed off.

Suddenly, I became deflated of the excitement that I felt earlier. My plan for this morning has been foiled! My “important” plan to make progress on my Diary of Fatherhood has failed. I’m not on task! So, it went, and I began to feel gloomy. Suddenly, the calm voice that has been conversing with me became husky and said:

“Caution! Don’t be too eager to share your fatherhood experience so that you neglect to be a father!”

“Yes, sir!” I thought in reply and instantly I became vibrant again. Quickly, I looked at the time and saw that I can accomplish these before leaving for work. “I can do this and if that’s what I can achieve this morning then it’s worth it!” I said to myself.

Next, I got my tape, measured the dimension of the wall plate space. I went and bought it from The Home Depot for $0.62 and mounted it! Boom! Done! I felt good!

Then rolling up my sleeves, I gathered my supplies and got on to washing Ofu’s shoes in our backyard. As I was tossing the muddy water onto the backyard lawn, I noticed his mini toy soldiers patched with mud paste dropping with the water. I smiled, picked them up and went ahead with washing his shoes and soldiers. Boom! Done! I felt even better!

I looked at the time and saw that I only spent a little over one hour, and still had the gift of two hours to do some work! 🕺🏾

I began to reflect on the entire episode:

• I recalled that one of the four leadership roles of men that I’m learning from participating in the “That Man Is You!” program is military leadership – i.e. battle Satan over your family. If I had given in to procrastination and priority misplacement (Satan’s devices), then the possible consequence would have been the electrifying of my wife, kids or even me. Just imagine!😮
• Sometimes we take for granted what others are dying to have. Whenever Ofu gets the opportunity to play in sand or puddle, he’s overjoyed but he doesn’t get it as much because the ground of his environments is either paved or a neatly mowed lawn. However, for some other children, playing in the soil and dirty waters are their norm and often depicted as a symbol of poverty, and even despised.
• I once heard in a health reality TV show that maintaining a sterile system may not be too wise because our antibodies may become rusty and may not be able to attack antigens effectively. So, I imagined that Ofu was only training his antibodies by playing in the mud, symbolized by his dirty toy soldiers.🤣

Thinking about my initial mood swing I asked myself the following questions:

• Have you become so performance and goal oriented so that you’re failing to enjoy the process?
• Are you waiting to enjoy the big moment but missing the enjoyments in the small moments?

At the end of my reflection, the voice returned and asked very calmly: “didn’t you say on your “About Me” Page that you welcome the challenges of fatherhood cheerfully?”

Me: “Yes sir.” (Thought in reply)

The Voice: “I gave the gift of writing and I gave you the inspiration of Dairy of Fatherhood. Every morning you ask me to pray and intercede for you, lead you and very nicely ask to gain the energy to submit to my lead. Why did you get so upset about my leading you earlier? Now, will you let me take back the lead again?”

Now recognizing who it was I smiled 😊and gently “replied:” “I will, I will, I knew it had to be you.”

Holy Spirit: “That’s my boy. This is your fatherhood experience today, it’s been a win-win, now go and share your experience with the world.”

That was my romance with the Holy Spirit today. Hence my story, completed just in time for me to go to work!

1/22/19