Marriage & Ministry: Making Time

Those who make the worst use of their time are the first to complain of its brevity.

My biggest complaint often is that I don't have time...that I'm "too tired" or especially our ministry schedule doesn't allow me to do the things I really want to do. In fact, I know I say it daily or multiple times a day as the laundry piles up, emails aren't answered, dishes are still sitting in the sink - how am I going to finish this? Where is the time?!? Then the flood of being overwhelmed crashes in and I hide in the bathroom to collect myself haha. 

Sure I have as much time as Beyoncé, but I don't have all of the help she does! Time is something that we wish we had more of, but the quality of time doesn't always equate to the quantity of it...does that make sense?

So we received a phone call of a time share presentation opportunity last weekend. I mean we can "suffer" through an hour for a gift card and a free hotel stay right? Since we couldn't commit to the entire week, we figured why not an overnight stay. Massanutten resort is about 1.5 hours from our house, so it wasn't out of our way significantly - and we needed a getaway. So we packed the kids and left after church Sunday.

First, we just recently started traveling with both kids outside of our normal routine...and I applaud people who are so brave and courageous to make a habit of it. The last few overnights we've done have been an adjustment as Kai and Titus have loved being away from home (and I've learned to let most rules go). Accepting that my kids need to enjoy the world around them and that includes quite a bit of non instagramable moments (if you know what I mean). 

So we made it...but not without the realization that life is full of the concept that:

When you say yes to one thing you say no to another. 

When Mike and I returned home we asked ourselves was the trip a success and did we actually enjoy a break - truth is we did. Saying no to how much time allowed us to focus on the fact that every moment needed to count. The quality of our getaway was probably the best we've had in a few months. The look on the boys' faces are ingrained in my heart and mind. 

work.dishes.laundry. you fill in the bank - will always be there. Though I say it, I feel guilty if I live it. But it's so healthy to say no probably more often than I do. To think of quality in a world where quantity is the measure we rise and fall on. After our short time away I thought to myself I can do this...we can do this. Take a day off or two and make it count. 

Say yes and feel good about it.