Impatience always causes excess: too much force, too much willfulness, too much haste. The patient man does only what is needed: the necessary effort and no more, the necessary assertiveness and no more, the necessary timing and not sooner. Patience is a way of the wise. Impatience is a path of fools.

Fathers and Patience

Which path do you tread? Sometimes one and sometimes the other? Do you act patiently at work, let your frustration build, and then unleash at home? Is that fair to your family? What fines of impatience do you pay? What’s the cost to your wife and kids?

Among other things, good fathers are part teacher, part coach, part shepherd, part mentor, and part captain. Students need teaching; athletes coaching; sheep, shepherding; mentees guidance; and soldiers, direction. The givers give because the needy need. In your family you are a giver. If your children didn’t need to learn and grow—and have the safety and license to make mistakes—then they wouldn’t need a father. By God’s grace, be patient.

Bottom Line

Good fathering requires patience. Ease into it.