Prioritizing Relationships Over Accomplishments

Today’s blog corresponds to one of the points from Andy’s message at the Family Life Meeting on Saturday Night. If you didn’t have a chance to hear the message you can download soon here.

We can enjoy peace in busyness through prioritizing relationships over accomplishments

SIGNS THAT YOU MIGHT NEED TO WORK IN THIS AREA:

• You enjoy order or cleanliness or productivity more than the quality of your love for others.
• You tend to avoid confrontation or conflict resolution
• You’re distracted simply being with the family
  
  Vision from God’s Word:
  
  Colossians 3:12-15 12 Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. 15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.
  
  
  Enjoying Peace Through Application:
• Regular date nights
• Family devotions during dinner
• Get a digital camera/video camera and take pictures. Put them on your family computer as the screen saver
• Invest in some family games – things that don’t take everyone to play, and can be done in an hour or less and enjoyed by everybody. Games that aren’t concentration driven.
  Don’t go on errands without a kid, but try not to go on errands with all the kids. Mix and match
• Regulate media and try to focus what you imbibe around things you all enjoy.
• Limit cell phone and iPod use that isolates family members. Limit private space in the home.

Relationships are a gift from the Lord. They refresh and strengthen us, and they are a means of grace to us for growth in our walk with the Lord. Often in the busyness of life, we can allow things we “must” accomplish to crowd out the priority of relationships in our lives. Consider the following questions to help you evaluate this tend in all our lives.

1. How would you evaluate your time spent this past week with respect to accomplishing tasks and/or investing in relationships? Have you spent your time wisely? Have you gravitated toward accomplishing tasks? Have you invested enough time in key relationships in your life?

2. Think of the important relationships in your family. Have you slipped into “managing” your household more than taking time to share and draw one another out in conversation this past week or so? Have you made an effort to encourage and build up each other up through serving each other, giving affection, and spending time with one another? As parents, have you taken time to instruct or graciously correct your children or draw them out in conversation?

3. Take time to think of 2-3 ways you could creatively make relationships more of a priority in your family? Implement one of those ideas this week. Here are a few examples:
With a member of your family: Take time to have a spiritual discussion; take a walk; creatively encourage them in one area of their life.


4. Teens: Have you invested any time this week building your relationship with your parents? Have you:

-Taken time to draw them out about what they are currently learning
from the Lord?
-Asked them for ways you could be praying for them?
-Asked them for any input they might have for you?