A few Februaries ago, while lying on a beach enjoying a trip my wife earned (another fact to prove I out-punted my coverage when it comes to marriage), I took the time to read Tony Dungy’s book, Quiet Strength. I was inspired reading about his life, from his time growing up in Michigan to his coaching of the Indianapolis Colts to a Superbowl win in 2007, and how his faith guided him through the triumphs and tragedies he experienced.

He wrote a lot about being a husband and father and the one line in the book that struck me the most was – “How would your business do if you spent the amount of time on it that you spend on your wife and family?”

Since I do not own a business, I prefer to think of it this way – “Would I be fired if I spent the same amount of time and effort at my job that I spend on my family?”

That passage, and my translation of it, has definitely had an impact on me. Do my actions and priorities show my family that being a husband and father is important to me? Sure, there are always necessary commitments that take time away from my family but what about the less necessary commitments? When I am at home, am I present to them or am I preoccupied with less important things?

Of course, being a husband and a father should be viewed as much more than just a job, but if it was a job that included periodic reviews and documentation in a personnel file, I am confident, as with most husbands and fathers, my file would be fairly large, with many positive reviews and many notations of areas in need of improvement. I am grateful that through God’s grace, the letters in my personnel file detailing the many mistakes I make as a husband and father end up getting run through God’s industrial-sized shredder.

Unfortunately, some days my job performance as a husband and father fluctuates a lot more than I would like it to and as I sit here re-writing this while I review the mistakes I have made recently, I can only hope my wife and kids have a shredder, as well.

When the shredding is complete, if all that is left is a short paragraph on my job performance, I pray it goes like this:

Philip John Corbett has the necessary skill set for the position. He shows passion and energy as he carries out his responsibilities and exhibits overall competency. He appears to love what he does. He does make mistakes, oftentimes repeating the same ones, but that can be expected as this is his first time holding this position and no job description or orientation training was provided.

Additional note: We really like him!