For Better or for Kids by Patrick and Ruth Schwenk & Ruth Schwenk

Author:Patrick and Ruth Schwenk & Ruth Schwenk [Schwenk, Patrick & Schwenk, Ruth]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Zondervan
Published: 2016-05-02T00:00:00+00:00

Our lives begin to revolve around our kids, leaving less and less time with and for each other. It’s not uncommon for a couple to see their precious time together evaporate. We have less time to date, less time to talk, less time to be alone, less time to get away.

For us, the scarcity of time can even make buying an anniversary card a challenge. All summer we had been running and running and running. We’d been so busy planning for the upcoming school year, registering our kids for soccer camp, shopping for school supplies, trying to organize ministry details, and packing for vacation that we ran out of time for each other. Our anniversary was upon us before we even knew it.

When Ruth said, “I didn’t get you an anniversary card,” it was more of a confession than a statement. For a moment, I thought I heard angelic choirs singing the “Hallelujah Chorus.” I entertained the thought of pretending that I hadn’t forgotten, but I had to be honest.

“I didn’t get you one either,” I admitted. That is the moment we started talking about what we were going to do for our wedding anniversary, which happened to be the very next day. Not exactly romantic. Our busyness had us living out of sync. With little rest and almost no rhythm, our busyness was taking its toll on us.

The season of life we are in with kids in the house is a lot more hectic than the early days of marriage. We can remember when we went shopping when we wanted to. On a minute’s notice, we went out for dinner or went on a run. We stayed up late watching television and slept in on weekends. No one awakened us by crying in the middle of the night or by pulling us out of bed at six on a Saturday morning. The luxury of time we used to enjoy together is hard to imagine now.

The time it takes to be a good parent can squeeze out the time it takes to be a good spouse. Endless activities and demanding schedules, like intruders, rob a couple of intimacy. Self-neglect and sacrifice become a way of life for most couples with kids. But living rushed, reactive, overstretched, and out-of-sync lives will eventually take its toll on a marriage.

Believe it or not, there is another option. God wants something more for us and has something more for us. It’s not always easy, and it certainly doesn’t happen by accident, but the hurried, busy, out-of-balance, hold-on-tight, I-am-losing-my-mind kind of life doesn’t have to be our life (at least not all of the time). When we have kids in the house, we need to learn to view and steward our time differently. We need to create new boundaries to keep the busyness of life in balance and to keep our love alive!

Time Is Sacred

The tension between work and rest, busy and balanced is nothing new. It seems that we are not born with great wisdom when it comes to time.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.