A friend of mine recently separated from his wife with all kinds of excuses and justifications. Both she and the children were heart broken and grieving. His excuses were weak, faithless, and dishonest. The problem was compounded as two of his children were high school ages. This was a critical time with a father leaving his children at a time of desperation, when they needed a father, a protector and an advocate the most.

How could a father do that? How could someone forget the most precious beings in his life during their most desperate time? Who would influence someone to do that? Would God do that? Never.

As saints, I fear in our quest for worldly praise, recognition, wealth and pursuits, we have forgotten what a prophet a God reminded us of years ago: "The most important of the Lord's work you and I will ever do will be within the walls of our own homes.”⁷ We cannot do this precious work if we are never home, or if we are distracted at home, or if we are doing work in our home that doesn’t strengthen our home.

The words of H. David Burton always ring true: “Effective family leadership requires both quantity and quality time.”⁸ The words of the Savior are strong: “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Matthew 6:21).