As a publisher and a person who travels a great deal, I usually take time to thumb through the airline magazine during each flight. I review, glance and skim through, but rarely do I read much.
But an article on this last trip got my attention. It was written by a father who took a canoe camping trip with his son. They traveled down the Willamette River (in Oregon) for two days, just the two of them.
The author made several comments about the trip. In addition to the beauty and natural wildlife, he noted how much he learned about his son during the trip. (While reading, I noted how much I wanted to take my sons on such a trip one of these days.)
The father commented about how quickly children grow up. And while he had heard the sayings many times, he reminisced that his son was almost a man, and yet he didn't know him nearly as well as he would have liked.
If your life is like mine, you're very busy. As a doctor of chiropractic (or a chiropractic student), you have no shortage of duties:
- the challenges of operating a successful practice;
- meeting the needs of your patients;
- leading your staff;
- communicating the benefits of chiropractic to your community;
- supporting your chiropractic association;
- growing as a health care professional.
My father used to tell me the story about the cobbler whose children went shoeless because he spent all of his time making shoes for others. In my case, I'm the communicator who doesn't take enough time to talk to his children. You may be guilty of something similar.
God grants each of us only so many days on this earth. We need to keep in perspective what is really important and what is merely a necessary part of life. We should be spending our time with a clear understanding of just how precious and irreplaceable our time actually is.
Spending time with the people we love truly is one of the great blessings in life blessings not to be missed. Take a few moments and consider how you're spending the days God has given you and see if you need an "adjustment."
I have to confess that I need to make that adjustment. But in order to do so, I have to establish those times into my busy schedule in advance, and then hold them sacred. If I don't plan for the important times with the people I love, they won't happen.
I'm talking to one of my sons now about taking a trip next summer, just the two of us.
Won't you join me?
DMP Jr.
Click here for more information about Donald M. Petersen Jr., BS, HCD(hc), FICC(h), Publisher.