When Bridget and I had our first child, little Maeve, I began to consider for the first time what it meant to be a father.  I found my mind returning over and over to two concepts that more than anything have influenced my parenting over the last six years and I hope the next sixty.

The first was an image of a fatherly lion, like C.S. Lewis’ Aslan - good but not tame, with all that such an image might signify. I want my children to see me as the lion of the home and then to see God as the lion of their lives.  More on that some other time…

The second was the word delight.  Every time I think about being a father I think about the idea of delight. I want my children to experience my delight in them just as God delights in me.

Sometimes as a grownup it is hard to tell the good days from the bad.  Actually, sometimes it is just hard to tell one day from another.  Work smashes into home smashes into faith smashes into life and it all seems to just get lost in translation.  But every once in a while, a good day just sneaks up on you when you least expect it…that is if you stop to think about it.

Tonight, driving home at 8:30, my two year old son Brendan looked over at his six year old sister Maeve, and after finishing a deep yawn and fervent eye rub, put a fine point on things by saying in a tired yet satisfied voice, “Maeve, it was a good day huh.”

My wife Bridget smiled at me and I choked back a tear because, as anyone with two small children can tell you, sometimes we need to be reminded of just how good our days really are.

Tonight, two of my kids went to bed hungry by their own choice.  Two of my kids complained.  Two of my kids got in trouble and went to bed early.

A few minutes ago, one of them got up and told me, "Dad, I'm Starving."

I explained to her how blessed we are, and that this is one of the reasons that mom and I will not tollerate complaints about food.  I explained that we have so much, and that there are starving children in the world that literally have not enough to eat.

She asked for pictures.

Here are a couple of them I found quickly on google.  My daughters face hard with stubbornness quickly changed to a face of compassion.  She began to ask questions.  The first one was, "why don't their parents just get them some food, or go hunt for some?"  I tried to explain, but words seem futile while looking at these pictures.  She went on to ask more questions about the inequality of food distribution.  

We’re in the season in which we celebrate Jesus being born as a human being. He came as a baby boy and we tend to get sentimental with candlelight versions of ‘Away in a Manger,’ and ‘Silent Night’. However, within two years of the birth of Christ, history tells us that an insecure, ruthless dictator slaughtered hundreds of baby boys in search of the one they labeled ‘King of the Jews.’ Obviously, Herod failed, but I wonder if our own modern insecurities are leading us down a path of child endangerment that isn’t as obnoxious and outright evil, but seems abhorrent nonetheless. Maybe, we don’t like children anymore….

Let me explain.

1) Have you ever noticed that in most U.S. budget cuts, one of the hardest hit areas is education? Arizona and California respectively have cut tens of millions out of their state education funds to ‘insure a better future’.

A few weeks ago, I wrote about my experience volunteering at Royal Family Kids’ Camp.  You can read about the importance of the program here.  I recently returned from another week at camp and as expected, returned physically exhausted, emotionally drained, and hesitant to re-enter my “normal” life knowing these kids returned to a life of loneliness, heartache, and continual disappointment.  Soon, I will re-learn how to hold conversations with people older than 8 years old.  I will stop expecting a hearty, kid-friendly meal at exactly 8 a.m., 12:30 p.m., and 5:30 p.m..  I’ll be able to sleep through the night without having to escort a child with a small bladder to the bathroom at 4:00 am.  And I’ll stop “seeing” the children from camp at the grocery store, or McDonald’s, or Disneyland, my heart skipping a beat each time.   

My 11 year old son Ian and I went out to breakfast this morning before school. it was a last minute decision and it basically ensured that he would be a little late. Better mothers than I are more particular about this sort of thing, but I tend to be more liberal with out-to-breakfast mornings and mental health days then I probably should be.  

It was about 9:15 when we arrived at the attendance desk - 15 minutes late. Ian knew the drill. He grabbed the neon yellow late slip and began to fill it out. 

Name: Ian Dominguez Ball

Date: April 23, 2009

Time: 9:15

Reason for lateness... 

I laughed as Ian started to write. "He's sure to tell the truth," I told the attendance lady with a smile as Ian said slowly as he wrote each word, "we....went...out...to...breakfast."  Why not? We had gone out to breakfast. No need to pose. Or so I thought...

My last blog was inspired by this article I read in the BBC News Magazine about a young boy who knew, at age 9, that he would someday save lives. He went on to become a leading medical scientist whose research has, in fact, saved lives. 

From this article, I picked up a few tidbits of wisdom about how to encourage young kids to go after their dreams. Here are a few nuggets of gold I plan to put into practice with the young people in my own life:

1) Kids are thinking about the future.  "Thousands of children wrote to the programme every week," said the article, and I realized that pretty much every child I know has an answer to "what do you want to be when you grow up?" Two of my nephews want to be pirates. One is already an accomplished artist. My pastor's youngest son already knows he wants to be a pastor. Another friend's elementary schooler wants to be a veterinarian. The list goes on.