Stop the foolishness. Step up!

It's April Fool's Day, which means there will be levels of inanity heaped upon unsuspecting people.  I've never really understood this day and what I really don't get is how or why someone would fall for a prank on the first of April every year, knowing that it's April Fool's Day.  It's not like you haven't been warned. You know the old saying, 'Burn me once, shame on you.  Burn me twice, shame on me.'  If you're falling for pranks year after year on this day, it's time to rethink things.

This weekend has been an opportunity for resetting and rethinking, so it puts the 'fool' on this day in a different light.  It just so happens that the annual worldwide general conference of my Church falls on this weekend and it's been good to take part in it, listening to the counsel, guidance, and instruction on offer.  A key tenet of our faith is the belief that the family is central to God's plan.  Fathers, then, play a key role in the family and far too many of us are not taking that responsibility as seriously as we (editorial aside - I say 'we' and 'us' because I know I'm not a perfect father and husband) should.  We are not stepping up.  It's time that we did.

"Brethren, step up." - Elder Jeffrey S. Holland

Elder Holland's counsel is powerful and it struck a chord with me.  As fathers and husbands, we have to step up.  We cannot sit idly by and allow the world to dictate how our children are to be raised and what is and isn't acceptable.  We can no longer shirk our responsibilities to our families and then complain about the choices are children make.  As men, we have to step up.  We can't expect our wives to carry the load of raising our children.  It's not right.  We must be a part of  that sacred responsibility, each and every day.

It is time to recommit ourselves fully to our wives and children.  It is time to be better - better fathers, better husbands, better friends, better men.  It really is time to step up.  God expects more us.  One thing I know, because I've seen it time and again in my own life, is that if we will do the things that God expects of us, we will be blessed, rewarded, edified - whatever you want to call it - the reward is there.  So, it's time.  Time to step up.  Just do me a favor - don't think that watching the movie 'Step Up' will provide a Cliff's Notes version of how to be better.  It won't.  Instead it will cause you to wonder how it is that Channing Tatum has a career and then it will inspire you to wish for the sweet relief of death because you'll never ever get that time you wasted watching it back.  Ever.