Our oldest son Jeremy beat me to the shower Sunday morning. He graduated from college last year and works in Nashville, staying there during the week and coming home on weekends. Normally he sleeps late and attends Grace Community Church, but this morning he was up early…way early…so he could meet a friend for breakfast back in Nashville.
Why? You see, Jeremy is a relationship king. He loves people. If it involves a friend or his fiance Mary he will gladly alter his plans, even if it comes at an “inconvenience”.
It was odd timing that Jeremy provided me with this illustration. Just before I got up Sunday morning, I said a prayer. As I spoke, I sensed God saying to me, “Would you rush to get up to spend time with me? You rush to get up to check your emails?”
Ouch!
He’s right. The first thing I do when I get up is check my email. Some mornings before I even pray…
Yet, we’ll do crazy things for the relationships we love the most. If we truly love someone, we’ll alter our schedules for them. We’ll be “inconvenienced” for those we love. We’ll change our plans. All because we love the one with whom we have a relationship.
Or, will we?
It was a great reminder for me to prioritize the relationships I cherish the most.
Do you need this reminder?
Oww! Convicting.
Wow. Yeah, I find myself checking my email, twitter feed and even facebook, sometimes before I even get out of bed! This morning, in fact, I woke up early for some unknown reason, checked email on my phone/alarm, deleted a few, read one, and went back to sleep for another 45 minutes. Why can't I be that enthusiastic with my attitude towards God and his Word? Maybe what I need is to get a new alarm, and start charging my phone in my office instead of on my nightstand…
Good idea.
That's a great rule
Yep, I'm especially bad with my wife. Even though we're in the midst of trouble in our marriage and my wife really doesn't show love or respect to me, I have decided to unconditionally love her. Over the past two years, I can not think of one time I've told her "no" for anything she's wanted and I'll go way out of my way to accommodate her or some request of hers for the family.
And I've gotten to that point by God working in my life and I've also purposed to start my day each day in prayer and devotion to Him…something I did not do well in the past.
That's great Jon Keep loving her that way
I think loving our spouses that way is a good thing to practice, marriage trouble or not.
Absolutely! Loving that way will help keep the marriage out of trouble…still depends on the other person, but definitely completes our part.
I agree.
I think the "radical" thing is that the marriage relationship is more about our relationship to God and not so much about our relationship to our spouse. I had not realized that before and my relationship with God was poor and that played out badly in the marriage. My relationship with God is so much better now and that does show up in how I treat my wife and the unconditional (a word you don't hear much) love I have for her. I'm still waiting for Him to get things in her heart back right with Him so that she can see me in that same light. But even if that doesn't happen, I'm still doing what He calls me to do.
Two books that I have found that are very helpful are "Love and Respect" which talks about the concept of unconditional love and respect between spouses and "Sacred Marriage" which talks about marriage being more about a place for God to make us holy and to be a reflection of our walk with Him and less about making us happy.
Good thoughts Jon. I love both these books.
I made a rule for myself a couple months ago: I won't look at my phone until 10:00 a.m. Texts, emails, and whatever else is on there can wait. Setting appropriate boundaries with technology drastically affects my relationship with God.
I would love to be right there with you. I just don't think I'd obey my own rule. 😉
Some days it's really tough!
I bet!
Thanks for dialoguing on my blog…I love it!
I agree!
Hmm…convicting!
Ron! I too suffer from the habit of checking my e-mails once I wake up. Thanks for your eye opening article.
Thanks
Thank you for sharing what the Lord showed you… It’s not emails I rush to but twitter or FB.
Thanks Jeannette.