Marriage is like landscaping…

I believe that the greatest danger facing our nation is not health care, or the economy, or Barrack Obama, or Nancy Pelosi, or the “vast right-wing conspiracy.” I believe the greatest danger facing our nation is the loss of family.

Marriage and families are no longer the sacred treasures that they once were. Mother’s no longer care for their children, Father’s often forsake their families for their own fantasies, and no one seems to mind. Children leave for school early in the morning and return home in the afternoon with a key and an empty house. All this and we wonder why our nation is depressed, in violence, and unstable.

We have forsaken family dinner for fast food and convenience. We have forsaken our marriages for “individualism” and “personal freedom”. There are consequences for our actions as a nation. We, as a nation, live well beyond our means and as a result, most people work longer and harder than they should, often forgetting what is most important… family.

With all of the current chaos in our world, I am reminded that if everything was stripped from us, our homes, our cars, our “things” that we love so much – we would be left with just ourselves, our family, and our God.

We need a REVOLUTION. Not a revolution where we fight a government with guns, but one where we rebuild our families with more than just words. Play together, laugh together, cry together, eat together, and just be together.

If the Father’s of this nation would stand up and be MEN, we would be far better off in the future. Not just men that go to work and drop off a pay check on Friday, but men that are the rock of their family, men that would lead their family to God, and men that provide for the needs of their wives and children by more than just finances.

Children NEED a mother and a father that love them and guide them. They have plenty of friends, what they need is parents. Parents who are willing to make tough decisions for their futures and provide a stable foundation for them to grow up on.

I don’t pretend for a moment that my family is perfect. I get angry at my children far too often and I am selfish. I write these words as much for myself as for anyone else. I pray that TOGETHER, Claire and I are able to raise modern day knights in our boys. We will stumble and we will make mistakes, but when I said ’til death do we part, I meant it. And if I ever stray from that, please be bold enough to remind me.

My prayer today, for our nation, is that our families are strengthened through tough times and that we are reminded of what really matters in life. In a footer of her e-mail, my sister Kari reminded me that Billy Graham once said “Mountaintops are for views and inspiration, but fruit is grown in the valleys.” My hope is that the current valleys in our nation produce much fruit.