What Will You Do With It?

Happy Friday, Friends!

I hope and trust this post finds you all having a great day as a glorious new day begins to dawn in my Sweet Home Alabama! This day is surely to be a great one! :)

This week I want to challenge us to consider our priorities, align our lives with those priorities, and to live intentionally.

Last week I was listening to a Focus on the Family broadcast and the guest was Pastor Bob Kraning. The episode, which you can find at focusonthefamily.com, was titled "25 Years and Still in Love" and it was presented in two episodes. Pastor Kraning made some comments that have caused me to think and I want to share a few excerpts with you here.

"I just tried to write down four things that we steal in a marriage. And I'm sure you could add to this list maybe 10 other things. First thing I wrote down was time. We tend to steal time a great deal. Uh, little thing that I read recently where a guy wrote down, he said, "If you put your work factor into 50 hours a week," okay? Some of you may be 40, but let's say 50. Some of you're up to 90 and I hope you...God speaks to you while you're here this week, 'cause you're in trouble. But let's say you work 50 hours a week, and let's say you spend 10 hours driving to and from work. Let's say you sleep 56 hours. Now you can adjust that any way you want to. I don't sleep 56 hours, buy you might. That leaves 52 hours. I guess my question is: what do you do with that 52 hours? If the average child gets seven and a half minutes a week of Daddy's time, what do you do with that 52 hours? What do you do as a wife, what do you do as a husband with that time? Time is a thing we can steal from each other very, very easily."

"What do you do with your time? What do you do with those 52 hours that you have? How much of that kinda time does your wife get? How much of that time does your husband get? And how constructive is that time as you spend it together? What kinda time do your children get out of that? See, there's a lot of factors in there that have to be dealt with."

The goal here is not to make anyone feel guilty. On yesterday's Focus on the Family broadcast singer-songwriter Tiffany Lee, known by her stage name, Plumb, talked about guilt beautifully. She said, "Guilt makes you continue to hide. Conviction, guilt and conviction are two very different things. Convictions bring you to the feet of Jesus and you bring light in. And you say, "help me. God, help me." Maybe it's in your parenting. Maybe it's in a number of other things. When you let Him in, when you come to His feet...That's not, you're not guilty. You're convicted, and He's gonna meet your need." The goal of this Happy Friday is to raise our awareness, to make us think. If there is conviction, perhaps it is your Spirit leading you. :)

So what will you and I do with our time? What are we doing with it? Does it line up with our priorities? If we were to look at one another's schedules, if we were to observe each other for a week, would what we do line up with what we say are our priorities? Life can be tough and the demands are very real...I don't think anyone would argue with that point. We must be intentional and we must fight for what we say is most important to us. Time is the most precious resource any of us have. Once it is spent, we never get it back. Let's treat it like the precious resource it is, honoring it.

There is one other thing I feel compelled to share with you all this morning. I heard this several years back and it so powerfully resonated with me. I was at a men's conference and the speaker was talking about how the breakdown of the American family began with the industrial revolution. He went on to talk about how prior to that time, all of the family worked on the farm together. With this, everyone was together during each others best time of the day. Think about it. Most of us go to work for at least 8 hours per day. During those 8 hours we usually have that time when we are most alive. When we get home we are usually tired, perhaps stressed, and the people that mean the most to us and who we love most - our priorities - are far to often given the leftovers of what we have to offer from that day. Profound! And this is not an easy one to solve. We do need to go to work and the reality is we get tired and rundown. Talk about conviction! I did not want, I do not want, my Beautiful Bride and Tender Warriors to get the leftovers...I want them to get the best I have to give every day. Easy? Absolutely not! Important? Critically so!!! It is an intentional effort to block out all the noise and distractions, to pray for strength, and to bring the very best I can to them every day.

A lot to think about, isn't it? Let's throw off the guilt, put away the shame, and let's take a look at the life we are living. Let's determine in our hearts and minds what our priorities truly are and then lets align the lives we actually live with the priorities we profess to have. It is about living intentionally, determining the influence we will have in the lives of those who are most important to us and honoring our purposes. :)

Please don't hesitate to contact me at any time if there is ever anything I can do for you or your family. I will always help you any way I can. You can reach me at kevin@whatwillyourinfluencebe.com.

Have a great day, a wonderful weekend, please cherish your precious families, and please stay well! :)

Kev