The hardest part to life is finding that balance. We all try to balance God with work, family and fun. When we work 60 plus hours a week it throws that balance all out of shape. Sometimes we are going to have to sacrifice our career in order to keep balance in life with family but you should NEVER sacrifice your family for your career!
I talk about this a lot because I see this as a huge issue in our country. We are running out of time. We are blocking out every single minute of the day and leave nothing for family or God. I watch people work their guts out to then come home and give their leftovers to their family.
What happens when your family gets all the leftovers? They become neglected. A neglected family gets destroyed over time. Yes I already did a whole series on family destroyers and time was one of them. Time is just so precious. You can lose all the money or material possessions you own and then work to get them all back. Time on the other hand you can’t get back.
Missing your kids’ ball games you can’t get back. Missing your daughter’s dance recitals you can’t get back. Missing your wife all day and half the night you can’t get back.
Time is the only thing you can’t get back. You can even to a degree get back your health but once you spend your time, it is gone for good. We all have 86,400 ticks a day. How will you use yours?
It is so important to figure out what your priorities are because we have to choose what we do each day. We can’t do it all even though some people try to do it all. When we try to do it all eventually everything falls apart.
Do you feel over committed? Are you overwhelmed? It may be time to say no to some things so that you can say yes to the best things. There is nothing wrong with saying no to things that are not important to your life. Granted sometimes you will have to say no to some important things in order to say yes to your family.
If you haven’t noticed I am big into family. Right now my hobbies are with my family. I enjoy this life so much with them. My son is now almost 21 months old and I can’t wait for him to get to be a little older so we can do alot of things together. I am also cherishing these times with him at the moment as I will never see him this young again. He is such a Blessing.
I also cherish my time with my wife. We just truly enjoy spending our time together. We are together everyday all day and still try a date night once a week. Keeping our marriage fresh is so important. You have to do things with your spouse if you want to grow. You can’t just live your life for you. It’s time to stand up for your family.
It’s time to balance your life out so that you can spend it with your family. You may have to trade that promotion for time with your family but this is a trade that is worth it. You may have to trade your hobby with finding a new hobby with your family. Again, this is an easy choice if your priorities are right.
It only becomes a hard choice when your priorities are out of whack. When you have self first on your list then the choices become hard. Or when you have things above your family on your list then the choices become hard.
Probably the hardest choice is doing the Godly things you feel you are supposed to do. Your calling so to speak. I see people place their calling from God ahead of their family. This is not what God wants. God understands when you need your time with your family so you don’t destroy them.
God doesn’t want you to destroy your family in order to follow his calling. A part of his calling on your life is your family whether you realize it or not. His calling does involve your family. You aren’t following his lead if you are neglecting your family.
Is this hard? Of course some choices are hard. You may be volunteering all of your extra time to the calling of God and backing away from your calling sometimes is going to be a tough decision and some people will not understand. But the question is do you want to destroy your family for God’s calling? This is what a lot of men are doing and it is making God look bad even though he is NOT the reason for this.
YOU and you alone are the reason for destroying your family. His calling would never ask you to give up your family in order to serve him. Anyone that tells you that is a LIAR! Only from satan does that come. God wants your marriage to not just survive but to thrive. He wants your families to flourish. He wants you to be successful in all areas of life as long as you have the right balance.
This is why I believe that God has a vision / purpose for your marriage. I believe that once you are married he changes your vision from you focused to WE focused. The question is what is God’s vision for your marriage? What is it that God wants you and your spouse to do for him that only you two could do? Where is he leading you and your spouse? He is leading you somewhere but you have to figure out where as you GO!
He may not tell you right away but his plans for your marriage are huge. He doesn’t want a settled for marriage, he wants an extraordinary marriage. He wants a marriage that exemplifies him.
When people see you and your spouse interact do they see Christ? What example are you and your spouse representing for Christ? When people know you are a Christian they will watch you to see if your actions equal your talk.
People realize that we all fall but they will watch and if your talk isn’t backed up with your actions then some people will lose interest in God. This is why God doesn’t want us to be lukewarm. It gives the wrong message to people who will be watching you.
Don’t allow your example to be a bad one as a Christian. Do what you need to for your family and for God. Balance your time so that your family sees they are the most important thing in your life outside of God.
Ask God for the wisdom to know what to say no to and what to say yes to. Ask him to give you the courage to follow through with what he tells you. Ask him to be with you when people talk bad about you because of the things you will be backing away from. Ask him to help you understand that family needs to move up on your priority list.
Be Inspired or Be Left Behind!
Chris Benton