Making Excuses

I was at a fireside last night with Elder Leavitt of the 70.  It was a good meeting.  I learned a lot of good things.  I participated in a little research relative to singles in the church - it was raising hands to certain questions with eyes closed.  Anyhow, after the meeting Elder Leavitt came and visited with a friend of mine while we were talking.  The subject of dating came up in that visit and it was pointed out that the lack of dating is not the woman's fault or they are not to blame.  It's the men.  He then looked at me and said "I'm not talking about you."  Again the topic of the man being at fault was mentioned and again he looked at me and made the same comment.  Then he asked who I was.  I introduced myself and then said "I'm a single father of three and I don't have time to date."  Afterwards my friend indicated that she was not buying the no time excuse.  Well the entire thing got me to pondering the matter a bit.  In reflecting on it some today I am sure that I could make time to date if I really wanted to.  And so I wonder, am I just making excuses?

I submit first and foremost that what I said is very true, I don't have  a lot of free time.  Life is incredibly full, there is so much going on in our family when it comes to school, work, family activities, homework, housework etc.  There isn't a lot of time to breath.  What little time I do have is spent in exhaustion for the most part.  Going out on a date just adds a little anxiety to my day that I am not necessarily a fan of.  It's not so much that I don't want to have companionship, I do and if the perfect woman would suddenly appear in my life that would be great.  The problem, finding the right woman for me.  That takes time which again is very limited. 

TIME - that is how we spell love right?  The priority of my life at this point, given what we've been through as a family, is not my dating.  It is however taking care of my family.  When I work long hours I don't necessarily want to come home only to turn around and go back out leaving the kids behind.  I don't feel good about that and don't think that is what the Lord would have me do.  Excuse?  I don't know, to me it is reality.  My kids, my family is going to come first.  The TIME that I have with them is important to the well being of our family. 

There are a number of other things that I battle with when it comes to dating but I am not going to get into them.  It sounds too much like I am making excuses.