“Very often I cousnel people who say with a weary heart, “You know, once the things of God meant everything to me. I had committed all to Him and I was so busy and happy serving my Lord.” Then they go on to tell how the vision faded, and their burning hearts grew cold. They go taken up with so many other “things” – not necessarily evil or wicked things, but htings which absorped their time, their money, and their lives. Eventually they found themselves saying “yes of course, the things of God are very important. Yes, I fully intend someday to put in an all out effort – but not just now. I’ve got so many other things all lined up, I really cant’s spare the time. And so the vision fades as they lose their order of prioirties.” – Pg. 58-59 “Limiting God” by John Hunter
Those words were written more than 40 years ago regarding the Christian life. However, I see it today not only in general Christian life but in marriage. Insert marriage where it says “things of God” and you will see an all to common rendition of marriages today. We start enthusiastically and with stars in our eyes. As life goes on, sometimes with absolutely no intent to do harm to your marriage, living gets in the way of relationship. We set our standards high. We need that degree or position to feel good about ourselves. To be valued in this world we believe we need to be or do noteable things. There is no wrong in helping others, bettering our world and inventing things, none. The only problem is when we allow those goals or the kids activities (all 6 of them for each child) get in the way of our marriage and family. But, I’m doing what it takes to support my family you say. I have to work 10-12 hour days to pay the bills and the kids need to be in club sports on top of school sports and take private lessons on the side. They will never make the team at school if we don’t. Do they want to be on the team? Or was it your idea? Do they need to be on the team at the expense of your relationship with your spouse, their parent?
“Simplifying your life can be more than just removing physical belongings. If minimalism is the intentional promotion of the things that I most value, it is also deciding what is most important in my life and removing the things that distract mefrom it. It is about removing the urgent for the sake of the important.” – Joshua Becker
Where does your marriage fall on your priority list?
What do you need to do to make it a priority?
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