Editorials

Keeping Our Families First

Dear Friends:

Doesn't this poem say it just right? My thanks to Skip Reynolds for forwarding this to me!

If I decorate my house perfectly with plaid bows,
strands of twinkling lights and shiny balls, but do
not show love to my family, I'm just another
decorator.

If I slave away in the kitchen, baking dozens of
Christmas cookies, preparing gourmet meals and
arranging a beautifully adorned table at mealtime, but
do not show love to my family, I'm just another cook.

If I work at the soup kitchen, carol in the nursing
home and give all that I have to charity, but do not
show love to my family, it profits me nothing.

If I trim the spruce with shimmering angels and
crocheted snowflakes, attend a myriad of holiday
parties and sing in the choir's cantata but do
not focus on Christ, I have missed the point.

Love stops the cooking to hug the child.

Love sets aside the decorating to kiss the husband.

Love is kind, though harried and tired.

Love doesn't envy another's home that has
coordinated Christmas china and table linens.

Love doesn't yell at the kids to get out of the way,
but is thankful they are there to be in the way.

Love doesn't give only to those who are able to give
in return but rejoices in giving to those who can't.

Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes
all things, endures all things.

Love never fails.

Video games will break, pearl necklaces will be
lost, golf clubs will rust. But giving the gift of
love will endure.

author - anonymous

As Barbara Bush once said: "you must believe in something larger than yourself....As important as your obligations as a doctor, a lawyer, a business leader will be, you are a human being first, and those human connections with spouses, with children, with friends are the most important investment you will ever make. At the end of your life you will never regret not having passed one more test, winning one more verdict, or not closing one more deal. You will regret time not spent with a husband, a child, a friend, or a parent."
"Whatever the era, whatever the times, one thing will never change: Fathers and mothers, if you have children, they must come first.... Your success as a family, our success as a society, depends not on what happens in the White House, but on what happens in your house."

Merry Christmas to you all!

Judge Paul Enlow

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