You arrive at work. You greet a few people as you make your way to your desk. Once there, you start sorting through the stacks overtaking it and open your email to find a bunch of messages demanding your attention. You pause and collect your thoughts of what all you need to accomplish today - organize these files, read and reply to all my emails, company meeting at 10:00, meet with client at 12:00 for lunch, etc., etc. You drink your 3 cups of coffee throughout the day just to stay alert and get the job done. Your boss comes in and you assure him that you are doing what it takes to up the company profile and profits. As the day closes you try to get everything in order and ready for tomorrow because you will need to do it all again.
Does this sound remotely like a day in the life of you? I am sure there are some differences, but generally, you get the concept. Most people have a job - maybe it's a desk job or maybe you are a mother working overtime to keep the kids in order. Either way, most of us can relate to devoting ourselves day in and day out to something. We have demands placed on us, goals to meet, and we do whatever it takes to do those and be successful at it. Why should we put less effort into our marriages then?
It's funny because a lot of people think their full-time jobs are their main job in life, and their marriage gets whatever is left of them at the end of the day. The fact of the matter is that your real "job" should be when you walk out of that office and walk into your marriage and family. That is when you should really kick into gear and be giving your best. Your marriage, your family...that is what is most important. No job has a more fulfilling profit either. We don't think about that though because our jobs produce tangible dividends for us to measure our success by, which in turn makes us feel like that's what is most important. We put so much emphasis on money, which lasts for a moment in time (as some of us know all too well). Marriage provides so many more benefits and profit, but it's measured differently. You have to start looking somewhere other than the bank account for it though.
As we all know probably a little too well, the economic situation for America is bleak at best at the moment. Many of us put so much of our faith, effort, and time into our jobs, and one day it was just yanked out from underneath us. Life is so unstable. Money is not secure. That is where marriage is so important - it should be our one secure thing (besides our relationship with Christ of course!) here on Earth. That is why it is so important to put that marriage first - because it's what matters. If you are putting in the time and effort you should, it's going to be there when nothing else is.
Re-committing yourself to your marriage each and every day is so essential. We give so much else our best. We try to impress so many people and do whatever it takes to be successful in so many other areas. We need that intensity, perseverance, and tenacity in our marriages! That is what absolutely matters in the end and in reality has so many more benefits that far outweigh any paycheck or 401k that can disappear at any moment. Each day you should wake up and be excited and ready to give your marriage the best you have got! Your real day starts when you get home from that job. Your job doesn't really care about you, but your spouse does. Give them your best!
Tomorrow we will discuss some practical ways of doing just that....
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4 comments:
i couldnt agree with you more, we forget why we went after our job in the first place. often times it was our family that was our motivator for the job because we thought about how this job could benefit the family and how it would allow us to do the things that we want to do as a family. somewhere along the line we become unbalanced and start putting all our energy into making sure the company is happy and become irritated with the family when they cant understand the demands on us at work, when in reality they just want more of us. we need to think about how many jobs we have already had in life and how many more we might have in the future and realize that the family is the only constant. we need to make sure that our marriage healthy and thriving(ashley's word) because it is one thing to be going through a rough economic time with a spouse that loves and supports and believes in you and another to be dealing with hard times in an unhealthy, unsupportive marriage. we need to have a place of release in our lives and our marriage is our release, our job is not our release from our marriage(sad that most people feel this way). lets make our marriages our PRIORITY and remember that we work to live not live to work
Aside from work....there are our guy friends....our girlfriends, even our brothers,sisters or our parents... we put soooooo much more time and money into pleasing....going with them....planning dinners, vacations, activities....whatever and we don't....WE DON"T put any of that into our spouses!!!
8/19 Anonymous - I really enjoyed your post! You are so right that our marriage is our release from our job not the other way around. I love the point you made too that we work to live and not live to work. It's so easy to get caught up in that mentality that work is everything, but in reality our marriage and family should be everything. Thank you so much for your comment! It was wonderful to read, and I really appreciate your input.
8/12 Anonymous - Thank you so much for your comment. You are so right; there are so many things and people that are always trying to pull at us. Unfortunately our marriage is usually last on the list and the first to suffer. Thank you so much for your post - great input!
Even though this was written for Aug.19th, it is so good that I have to reread it. Look we watch movies over and over, listen to music over and again....Information like this needs going over more than once!
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