DA364 | Bedtime Blessings, Birthday Letters, and 5 Simple but Life-Changing Habits (Justin Whitmel Earley: Part 1)

DadAwesome

Justin Whitmel Earley is back with creative fatherhood tips, powerful daily rituals, and his top five habits for dads. From writing yearly letters to your kids to starting every day with Scripture, this episode is packed with wisdom to help you lead your family with love and intentionality.

Key Takeaways

• You are a citizen of Heaven.
• Write a yearly letter to your child on their birthday that you can give to them when they’re older.
• Your primary responsibility is to lead your family with confidence in God's love and sovereignty over your lives.
• Read Scripture before you look at your phone each morning.
• Taking care of your body is a spiritual task.

Justin Whitmel Earley

Justin Whitmel Earley is a lawyer, author, and speaker from Richmond, Virginia. His books include The Common Rule, Habits of the Household, Made for People, and more. Justin is married to Lauren and has four sons: Whit, Asher, Coulter, and Shep.

Key Quotes

• 4:33 - "The most significant thing about my time in China was making me realize that I was more of a citizen of heaven than of America because it was the first time that I lived in exile anywhere. Being a minority, so to speak, it really shaped the way that I interact with America, I think in a great way. It made me understand that I'm a citizen of the Kingdom first. I think often about trying to give my kids that experience at some point. I don't know that's something that you can teach alone. I think you can talk to your kids a lot about your country, patriotism, how to do it well, how it can go too far, why you need it in the first place. But I always want to give them that experience. That is something I will long to teach my children and long for them to experience."
• 21:26 - "One of the most important flips in my life has been what I call scripture before phone as a daily ritual. There's an incredibly formative flip to say, I'm not going to start in the inbox or in social media or in the news, which are all sort of answering some kind of question of what's going on today. What do I need to do today? Which is a very unhealthy way to start your day. Because we have a God shaped hole in our heart. And we're constantly wondering over and over, particularly at the beginning of the day, who am I today and who do I need to become today in order to be loved or lovable? If we start with those things in our face, a lot of times we think that's what we need to do. We need to accomplish this or that at work to feel good about our day. So starting in Scripture, it's been an incredibly formative habit to say that I am loved, thus I can go out and return love to the world."

Links from Today’s Conversation

• Send a Voice Message to DadAwesome
• Apply to join the next DadAwesome Accelerator Cohort: Email [e-mail]
• Subscribe to DadAwesome Messages: Text the word “Dad” to [phone]
• The Common Rule by Justin Whitmel Earley
• Habits of the Household by Justin Whitmel Earley
• Made for People by Justin Whitmel Earley
• Subscribe to Justin’s Newsletter
• 253 | Reframing Your Parenting with New Habits (Justin Earley)
• 339 | DA+3 Group Guide: Justin Whitmel Earley

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