Minute With Mallon: The Child Who Wouldn't Sleep!

Jun 22

Welcome to Minute with Mallon!

Something I Taught:

One of my closest friends taught me a lesson about parenting (and leadership!) years ago that I still think about today.

I'm not going to use his name, or tell you much about him. But one thing I can tell you is that he has a lot of children! 🍼

As we all know, children can be very different from one another.

I have three sons:

One is a Director
One is a Thinker
And one is a Socializer

Same mom. Same dad. Totally different kids.

Every night, my friend told me that he would go to each of his children's rooms, sit down beside their bed, and pray with them.

All but one of the children kept it short.

One of the kids was a thinker. He was quiet during the day but loved to talk at night.

My friend told me that for a while it really bothered him because he could not get that child to shut up and go to sleep.

But then he heard God tell him to slow down, sit by the bed, and just be there as long as his son wanted to talk.

Sometimes it was very hard to do. Sometimes it was even excruciating. But it's necessary.

And through those conversations, God used that little boy to help him become a better father.

As I listened to him tell that story, I couldn't help but think about how often we do the same thing.

Because people don't all receive love, attention, encouragement, coaching, or leadership the same way.

My friend wanted his son to be different. He wanted him to pray quickly, go to sleep, and make bedtime easy.

Instead, God taught him something deeper.

The little boy didn't need advice.

He didn't need correction.

He didn't need another lesson.

He just needed his dad's presence.

How many people in our lives are the same way?

A spouse.

A child.

An employee.

A friend.

A customer.

A coworker.

Sometimes we get frustrated because people aren't responding the way we want them to. We want them to think like us, communicate like us, move at our pace, and process life the way we do.

But leadership, parenting, friendship, and marriage often require something different.

They require us to slow down long enough to understand the person in front of us.

One of the greatest gifts you can give another human being is your full attention.

Not your advice.

Not your solutions.

Not your opinions.

Your attention.

This week, who in your life might need a little less of your instruction and a little more of your presence?

Maybe the greatest gift you give them this week isn't something you say. Maybe it's simply that you stay.

People rarely remember all of our advice, but they almost always remember how present we were.

Something to Ponder:

Today, we seem to be embarrassed about things we should be proud of, and we are proud of things that we should be embarrassed about.

Jerry Seinfeld

Something I Learned:

In his novel Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas, James Patterson did a great job of highlighting where our priorities lie in our personal and professional balancing act:

"Imagine life is a game in which you are juggling five balls. The balls are called work, family, health, friends, and integrity. And you're keeping all of them in the air. But one day you finally come to understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. The other four balls--family, health, friends, integrity--are made of glass. If you drop one of these, it will be irrevocably scuffed, niched, perhaps even shattered."

Work matters. It provides for our families, gives us purpose, and allows us to make a contribution. But if we're not careful, it can slowly crowd out the very things that make life worth living.