the struggle to simplify

Ah yes, the simple life. No, not the one with Paris and Nicole--never even seen an episode. I'm talking about the real deal, the for real simple life.

One of the decisions that our family reached this summer is that we need to simplify our lives. I think I mentioned that Kim and I took a backward look to review our family life this summer. We were not surprised to realize that the number of family nights--nights with both of us home, spending time playing with the kids--is drastically low over the past 5 years. There is something going on for one (or both) of us almost every night of the week. And the nights that we are at home often find one (or both) of us on then computer, dinking around on the web, working on a project, or whatever. Now, there have been some great family moments, but they are prety much the exception, rather than the norm. Our kids end up getting the left-over time. And that is not acceptable.

It's ridiculous to claim that we value and prioritize family if there aren't many nights that we spend as family.

We have 3 great kids, and another waiting for us over in China. Our marriage is great, and getting better all the time. We are happy, healthy, and having fun. It's not like life is on the rocks, and we're not embattled and bitter toward life, each other, or God. But, again, it's dumb to say that family is first with us if our time doesn't reflect that. There is absolutely no substitute for quantity time together.

So here's the deal: Kim is rearranging her Mary Kay schedule so that she is home Monday nights, which is my day off. We're restructuring the way we do LifeGroup, which used to be Thursday evenings. That would give us 2 nights at home each week, just us and the kids. I am helping coach Levi's midget football team. We're going to have family nights on a regular basis, and I'm going to be talking to Kim about a standing Monday date-day.

Simply put, our family has got to take a higher place of importance than church, students and student ministry, baseball, Mary Kay, hunting, tv, web surfing, or anything else.

God has given us a family to shepherd, to care for, to lead. I don't want to miss my greatest calling.