West Coasters - you may not get this!
Monday, February 12, 2007
Marriage and Work
Neither of us has posted for awhile, we have fallen back into the routines of work, eat, play a little, sleep, work again and have not had much time for reflection or for updates.
I keep thinking about a message we heard in January called Good to Great. It challenged us both to think about what "good" things are in our life, that are actually barriers to the "GREAT" Things we want to have. Work is good, in fact many things are GREAT. We both have jobs that have meaning. But it is so easy to let it be the center of our lives instead of God, and to let it become THE top priority instead of our marriage, our family, our community. It is challenging to find the balance because as teachers at a community college that serves a rural, poverty-stricken community - our work has a direct influence on so many individuals and families. Just today, I pulled out of a committee, and as I type this saw that I just got an e-mail with the subtle message that I should not leave the committee. I'm "abandoning" it...It isn't easy to leave behind the good to go after the GREAT because others may hold you back, or your own guilt holds you back!
Martin and I joined a marriage class at church that started yesterday morning. The teachers quoted a statistic that the divorce rate for couples who pray together is only about 1%! Last night, Martin and I prayed together for the first time in a long time. When we were done, he said "so what was our homework for the marriage class". I chuckled - it was to pray together every day! So we got one day of homework done!
I keep thinking about a message we heard in January called Good to Great. It challenged us both to think about what "good" things are in our life, that are actually barriers to the "GREAT" Things we want to have. Work is good, in fact many things are GREAT. We both have jobs that have meaning. But it is so easy to let it be the center of our lives instead of God, and to let it become THE top priority instead of our marriage, our family, our community. It is challenging to find the balance because as teachers at a community college that serves a rural, poverty-stricken community - our work has a direct influence on so many individuals and families. Just today, I pulled out of a committee, and as I type this saw that I just got an e-mail with the subtle message that I should not leave the committee. I'm "abandoning" it...It isn't easy to leave behind the good to go after the GREAT because others may hold you back, or your own guilt holds you back!
Martin and I joined a marriage class at church that started yesterday morning. The teachers quoted a statistic that the divorce rate for couples who pray together is only about 1%! Last night, Martin and I prayed together for the first time in a long time. When we were done, he said "so what was our homework for the marriage class". I chuckled - it was to pray together every day! So we got one day of homework done!
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