Family First

 

Keeping first things first is a challenge for most of us. It can be one of the most significant challenges we face. Our work, families, and devotion to God compete for our attention. Our priorities can get mixed up, and we must realign them. We should honor God first and then our family above all other interests. That means we try to put our family above our work.

John B. Watson is an example of someone very successful in his career. He is one of the most famous psychologists in the history of psychology. Watson appeared to have talent, good looks, a charismatic personality, and a successful career. However, his life is a study of personal disaster. Nowhere is the tragedy more evident than in Watson’s life.

He wrote many widely received books, but his book on parenting was a real success. What an enigma that Watson authored a book on parenting while he was a failed parent. He had multiple affairs. One was a notoriously public affair that ultimately led to his divorce and termination from John Hopkins University. However, the most deficient part of his credentials was his parenting skills. Both his sons suffered severe depression. One son committed suicide, and the other mentally collapsed after fighting suicidal impulses. Watson’s daughter suffered from depression and suicidal thoughts. She attributed her depression to have begun around the same time as her father’s scandal.

Two of Watson’s granddaughters had problems. One committed suicide, and the other suffered from depression, alcoholism, and suicidal thoughts. Although Watson was a brilliant scientist and made an enormous contribution to psychology, he was, at the same time, an abject failure as a husband, father, and grandfather. Watson is the ultimate example of wasted talent and mixed-up priorities. Next to God, our families are the most critical endeavor in our lives. Priorities never stay arranged for very long. However, when God is the main priority of our life, it is amazing how everything else works for the better.