Who's Fighting for Your Family? - Mike Mannes
Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 2009-05-21 14:28.
As a husband and father, I’m realizing more and more that I have a responsibility to stick up for my family when threats come to pull it apart. One of the biggest threats in our busy lives is the issue of time.
As many of us know, there seems to be more tasks to be completed in our lives than hours in the day. It is so easy to let our family drop on the priority list. We think to ourselves, “oh, I will just get this extra work done today, and then tomorrow I’ll make up for it by spending extra time with the family”. Guess what tomorrow often brings? More busyness, more stress, more tasks, and another day full of threats to time spent with the family.
Three things I suggest:
1. Non-negotiable date night with your spouse. When a meeting request or an possible appointment comes up at the time of your date night, its easy to say, “I’m booked that night”. If the date night isn’t scheduled in, it rarely happens.
2. A minimum number of nights of the week you will schedule yourself to be home in time for supper.
3. A Sabbath – at least one 24 hour stretch per week in which you step away from the job and relax with your spouse and your children. Trying to schedule some one on one time with each child in there is a challenge worth pursuing.
We all know God wants our families to be close, supportive and successful. With His help and some simple choices daily, they can and will be all that and more.
As a husband and father, I’m realizing more and more that I have a responsibility to stick up for my family when threats come to pull it apart. One of the biggest threats in our busy lives is the issue of time.
As many of us know, there seems to be more tasks to be completed in our lives than hours in the day. It is so easy to let our family drop on the priority list. We think to ourselves, “oh, I will just get this extra work done today, and then tomorrow I’ll make up for it by spending extra time with the family”. Guess what tomorrow often brings? More busyness, more stress, more tasks, and another day full of threats to time spent with the family.
Three things I suggest:
1. Non-negotiable date night with your spouse. When a meeting request or an possible appointment comes up at the time of your date night, its easy to say, “I’m booked that night”. If the date night isn’t scheduled in, it rarely happens.
2. A minimum number of nights of the week you will schedule yourself to be home in time for supper.
3. A Sabbath – at least one 24 hour stretch per week in which you step away from the job and relax with your spouse and your children. Trying to schedule some one on one time with each child in there is a challenge worth pursuing.
We all know God wants our families to be close, supportive and successful. With His help and some simple choices daily, they can and will be all that and more.
