Will Life Slow Down? Part II
Written by beafriend
Posted on Monday, July 28, 2008 at 01:57 PM.
After reading my blog on âWill life slow downâ she challenged me with this statement; "You have told us what we need to do, so how do we do it?â What a great statement! So many times we teach and preach sermons but do not give a practical way that individuals can make application to what we challenged them to do.
Let me see if I can make some suggestions that I see in my own life that may help you in your quest to "slow your life down".
I am a father of two young boys who are very active in church and the activities, community sports, school activitiesâ¦. Well you get the picture.
1. Be prepared to give up the things that you enjoy.
Before my first son came along, my wife and I enjoyed a leisure life of church, spending time together, my band, martial arts, body building (not that you can tell it now) and tennis. We had time for late night rendezvous and could sleep late on the weekends! I soon realized after the birth of my first son all this had to change. I could not be a devoted father and spend time with every one else and not my family.
2. Let go of what your desires are.
Letting go of what I wanted to do became a struggle at times. I enjoyed going to train at the dojo, I enjoyed practicing late on week days and I enjoyed spending time with my friends. Although there is nothing wrong with these things I realized (with a little help from my wife) that these are things that I wanted to do and they did not include the family.
3. Simplify your life.
Okay, here it is straight from the heart. I did not want to give up these things but if I was going slow down then I had to let go of the things that I enjoyed and free time up for my family. I made some of the toughest decisions in the early years of my first son.
So here I am today; I get to play an occasional game of tennis, haven't picked up a weight in over 8 years, stopped practicing martial arts and all for what? I have a loving wife that is my best friend, and two amazing boys that I get to coach in sports and teach them the word of God! I would give it all up again and again!
In conclusion, if you want your life to "slow down" be ready to make some serious decisions that you will likely struggle with. It could be downsizing your home, selling that priceless car, or giving that championship team that a final notice. What ever the Lord calls you to do, it will be worth every moment.
Can life slow down? Yes, but you have to make the choice to make it happen.
