I didn't PLAN it that way. It just sort of crept up on me. And that's the challenge, isn't it? If we don't PLAN for the time to make investments with the most important people in our lives, life will creep in and take away the time we so desperately desire with them.
Remember the verse we have heard so often in reference to money that goes, "Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also"? Luke 12:34 - The Message translation puts it like this: "It's obvious, isn't it? The place where your treasure is, is the place you will most want to be, and end up being."
I heard a pastor say this week that it's really very logical. Wherever you put your treasure, your heart gets wrapped up there. If you put lots of money in a stock, you get all wrapped up in that stock. If you invest in peanuts, all of a sudden you're very, very interested in peanuts and the market and the weather and soil conditions and everything related to peanuts.
Well, the same is true for your family and mine. Take a look back at the last 6 months in your calendar. Would anyone be able to prove, based on your calendar, that your heart was wrapped up in your family? No? If I want to change that in my case, according to this scripture, all I have to do is start investing in my family, and my heart will follow, for "where your treasure is... (where I've been making my investments...) my heart will be also."
But it's really a practical matter, too. I simply have to make time to schedule some things in my calendar and refuse to allow other tings to take that time away from time I've scheduled with my family. I've tried that before, btw, and discovered just how difficult that can be. Good people, asking you to invest in good things, will try to get you to take time away from your family.
The question we have to ask is "What's most valuable to me?" German philosopher Johann Goethe once said "Things which matter the most must never be at the mercy of those things which matter the least." So we have to have taken time to think through what we value most and then schedule time (our most valuable asset), to invest in those things we most value. And then we'll have to fight some battles to get to actually MAKE those investments.
But remember this, I haven't been using the word "SPEND" time with your family, for a reason. Remember what word I've been using? "INVEST" time with your family. Can you guess why? Because with INVESTMENTS there are ALWAYS RETURNS! So hang in there. Know what you value. MAKE time in your schedule and fight for that time to INVEST in what you most value, and there will be increase.
What KIND of increase? The increase of the seed. If you plant an apple seed, do you get back an apple seed? NO! You get back an apple tree, with many apples, each with many seeds, every season. You get the kind of increase that only the Lord can bring. What KIND of increase?The ind of increase Luke was talking about when he said... "Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you." Luke 6:38
So what are you waiting for? Have you felt like you just don't have time for your family sometimes? Like I've felt recently? Take it back. Invest in the things that are most valuable to you. Invest in the things that truly matter. Invest in the things that are eternal. And see what God will do.
In another post I'll discuss the negative consequenses of failing to do this. If you don't invest now, you may discover the opportunities have passed you by. You only have a limited amount of time to make investments in some things you value before they're gone. Don't miss out on it.
What do you value most? Don't miss it.
Coming from a citizen of the community of grace. I missed it. I found it. I never want to lose it again.
God wants you to receive all the blessings He can pour out on your life. Don't miss them.
Grace and peace
Keith Lowry
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