Going AWOL—Absent Without Leave—is serious because a soldier is absent from a place where duty requires him to be. AWOL assumes assignment, responsibility, and accountability. The mother or father who neglects parental responsibilities may never face a court-martial, but their absence is not without consequence.

And you don’t have to leave home to go AWOL. A father can sleep in the house every night and still be absent. A mother can sit at the dinner table and still be missing. We can provide food, clothing, transportation, and a roof while being emotionally and spiritually absent from the lives God has entrusted to us. Presence is more than proximity.

In Genesis 3:9, God asked Adam, “Where are you?” God knew where Adam was geographically. The question exposed something deeper. Adam was hiding when he should have been walking in fellowship with God. He was not where he was supposed to be.

Maybe every parent needs to hear that question occasionally: Where are you? Where are you emotionally? Where are you spiritually? Where are you when your children need someone to listen? Where are you while their values, beliefs, character, and understanding of God are being formed?

None of us will parent perfectly. That isn’t the question. The question is whether we have abandoned our post. Faithfulness does not mean perfection; it means we keep showing up. We listen. We talk. We pray. We teach. We apologize when we’re wrong. We correct when necessary. We encourage. We love. We remain present.

And if you’ve been absent, there is good news: absence doesn’t have to become desertion. You can return to your post. You can put down the phone, have the conversation, listen again, pray again, and become present again.

Some of the most important people God will ever entrust to your care may already be living under your roof. Don’t go AWOL from the people who need your presence most. ©

–PGR