Joy Challenge #4: Make your family the priority
I used to be able to multi-task really well. I could read, listen to someone talk, have a conversation, take notes, drink coffee, walk and chew gum at the same time – the list was endless. I could have 5 different tasks going at the same time and never drop the ball. I became an expert at doing a little bit of everything but not necessarily excelling at anything.
And then I had a child and gave her all of my good brain cells and energy. Research just recently has shown that children get their intelligence from their mothers, and I think it’s because mine spent 9 months choosing all the best brain cells for herself and left me just enough to barely focus on one task at a time. I can’t read a book and have a conversation anymore – I either read the same paragraph 6 times or totally ignore the person talking to me. I can’t start a load of laundry and sit down to work because the laundry won’t make it to the dryer for 4 days.
I can’t strive to be like the popular kids on social media and also be there for my family.
People are more important than platforms. They have to be – and when I start to find myself trying to keep up with the internet “Joneses” I also find myself failing to minister to my family. God has given each of us people in our immediate vicinity to love and care for – friends, neighbors, family members – and when we spend more time cultivating a community of influencers online with the hope that someone “famous” might acknowledge us, we fail to serve where we’ve been planted. So today, for just one whole day, let’s make our family and our neighbors and our real life people the priority. Text a friend who needs encouragement and have coffee. Hide your phone in a drawer and color with your kids. Have an actual conversation around the dinner table, laugh, play games, sit outside.
Make memories that last a lifetime instead of posts that will be seen for an hour.
Questions:
- How could making your “people” a priority help you overcome struggles with jealousy?
- What can you do today to focus on your family?
- Who is God putting on your heart to connect with today?
