My Heart’s Desire

We are on a journey, my family that is. My desire as a father is to work with my family and to work from home on a full-time basis. Notice, I said “my desire.” My desire has yet to become reality. As a single income family, building a sustainable home business that will support our family is still a work-in-progress. Lots of planning and effort will continue to be needed from everyone in our family to hopefully one day bring Daddy (that’s me) home.

In the meantime, while I must work in a full-time I.T. job outside of the home, my wife and I are instilling an entrepreneurial spirit in our children. Our vision began with my wife coming home eighteen years ago before our first child was born. At the time, my wife and I were both public school teachers, so the thought of living on one teacher salary was quite a challenge. However, the Lord was teaching us through Scripture to have a biblical conviction for raising our children, and for my wife to be at home full-time from that point forward.

“And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.” Deut. 6:7-8

Transitioning to work at home is just one piece of a larger vision to pass on a biblical worldview to the future generations of our family. Having been taught and trained by public schools and universities, my wife and I are continually amazed at our own need for the reforming of our minds and thoughts toward work as well as many other areas of life. And the reforming is a constant process full of struggles and frustrations, especially when I see the hours, days and weeks passing by with only tiny steps being made in the work to home transition. But we press on doing our part, yet knowing that God is sovereign.

“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Jer. 29:11

Some of the practical steps we have taken as a family center around home education and technology. Each person in our family has unique talents which can be channeled into productivity. For example, our daughter loves photography and graphic design. We recognized her abilities at an early age, so we purchased an inexpensive computer program for her and allowed her time to learn and have fun mastering the program. By developing her confidence and skills, she now is excited to tackle new computer programs like the ones she uses as the principle graphic design specialist for our web design home business. She develops the graphics and logos for web sites and brochures and does some absolutely amazing photo editing, and she’s only fourteen years old. My point in elaborating is that I cannot do it alone – there are not enough hours in the day, nor enough energy in my body to work full-time outside the home and run a full-time home business with high standards of quality and integrity. I need my family to contribute and help carry the load as we build the home business together. Many evening hours and Saturdays are the times when I can focus my efforts on the priorities at hand, and the work is enjoyable because of the purpose we have in mind.

We must also keep a proper balance between our work efforts at home and other priorities in our family. Our son loves history which includes a tangible love of anything old, especially antique tractors. We have yet to determine exactly how to translate antique tractors into a family business, but our son has done a beautiful job restoring two 1940’s Farmall tractors which he and our daughter enjoy driving in a local parade. Projects where we can all work together as a family have been the most rewarding experiences for us.

None of the work I have done in my career outside of the home has been as fulfilling as the beginning efforts of working side-by-side with my wife and children. Even if the Lord never allows me to completely transition to work at home, I know the groundwork has been cultivated and vision firmly planted in the hearts of our children. They can continue our family’s journey of reformation and not have to travel the same unfulfilling paths which do not lead to home.

“Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” Phil. 3:13-14