Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Having a Christ Centered Summer!

Our family is slap dab in the middle of a hectic baseball/softball season. I love it- and I hate it!

I love it because I get to watch my children have fun doing something they love. I hate it because, 9 times out of 10, we are split up as a family. Almost all of the games occur at the same time at different ball parks- even in different towns!

We have ballgames on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays. Tournaments usually on Fridays and Saturdays. Church is on Wednesday and Sundays. That is all 7 nights of the week.

To say that a busy schedule can put a strain on your marriage and family time is a massive understatement. We have to work extremely hard during the "sports" months to maintain a healthy balance in our family life.

God must remain central and top priority if we are to continue reaching our goal of being a Christ centered family.

How do we do it?
Well, sometimes we fail. Yep. You read it right.
Just because my husband is the Senior Pastor of our great church does not make him perfect. (Although I think he is pretty close! :)) And for sure, I am not!!!!!
Sometimes we get caught up in the whirlwind of life and can't find the way off the cyclone.

Colossians 3:1-3 says
"Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God." NIV

But other times, we plan ahead (that would be Rusty and not me :)). If we know we are going to have a hectic week, we make a special effort to have family time during the day- if possible- or eat an early supper together, etc. We purposely talk about God's Word and ask each other questions about our Bible reading. We hold children and adults accountable for time spent in God's Word.

The biggest challenge is quality alone time for our marriage. Summer makes it a little harder to have our weekly "dates" and time typically spent just with the 2 of us. Again, it takes planning ahead and definite persistence! But it sure is worth it!

I received a wonderful resource today for building great marriages. I encourage you to check out this website for some great online stuff! You can also sign up for a weekly encouraging email. I haven't explored it all completely, but so far I like what I see at Marriage Today.org.

My prayer for each of you is that you keep Christ at the center of your hearts and your families! May you continue to seek His face with all your heart! May you know His Truth. May you imitate His ways. May love His Word and live His Will! I simply pray you have lots of S.K.I.L.L. in your life!

I love you all and pray you enjoy this beautiful summer ahead of us!!!
(Oh, how I love summer time!!!)
dorinda

5 comments:

Sharon said...

I'm feeling the challenge as well this summer, too! Great post.

I’m working my way through the Assembly of God Blog ring, and giving friendly reminders to those who need to update their code. (Your code is missing the Assembly of God black/white/gold banner and the gold join button.) Please go to my site and click on “Assembly of God Blogs” in the blue linkbar under my header. You’ll find the code you need there, and instructions on how to add the code, should you need them. (Please don’t use the code from RingSurf- it’s missing the banner and button.) Thanks!
~Sharon~
P.S. If you need any help, please don’t hesitate to ask!


Also Dorinda, you're not showing up at all on RingSurf. Once you get the code up, log back in at RingSurf, and we'll see if that helps. If you just want me to take care of it all, let me know! I'm sorry this has happened! I don't know what's happening or why you off the ring, but I want to fix it ASAP. Thanks.

LAURIE said...

enjoy it Dorinda because before you know it the kids will be grown and you will find yourself missing all the hustle, bustle and going to and fro. Jordan has been our "athlete" ever since he was 5 years old and now there are no more ballgames to attend. Almost doesn't feel like a fit for us, but I cherish all of the games I attended, and look forward to sharing more games with my kids kids! -blessings, Laurie

Unknown said...

Hope you have a fabulous summer!

xox,
Grace :)

Beth said...

I love summer! Jeremy, Grace and I are having so much fun. So far, we have spent Saturdays outside. Grace loves to play in her pool and then we grill hot dogs and bratwursts. Grace calls it our party!

Anonymous said...

Your not perfect? Oh my! I'm learning from my mommy mentor friends to treasure every moment and to hug em tighter. You are a blessing :o)