Together Time

As the years go by, it becomes more and more difficult. Life gets busy.  There are distractions.  There are reasons not too.   There are other things to do.  But to do so is foolish.  To do so makes things more difficult.  That is why, I think one of the most important things to do as a married couple is to spend time together.    It's important to spend time with anyone you care for.  It's important to make time for prayer.

My wife and I have been married for 18 years.  For 13 of those years, I've worked overnight hours.  I've worked off duty jobs.  There have been times that it has felt that we are two ships passing in the night as we hand off the kids for the other to watch.   And then, when we are home together we are doing other things.  We are in seperate rooms.   I can see how couples grow apart.

That's why is is so important to make time for each other.  It's been made easier ever since our oldest child became responsible enough to stay home with the other two kids.  It's easier for us to go to dinner together or to make a date night with each other.  Or we would go to lunch with each other on days I wasn't sleeping.  At the very least we tried to just spend time talking about our day.   I think if we hadn't done these things we would have grown apart.

That's not to say that there can't be improvements.  There are times when we are just so busy that it's difficult to even get a phone conversation in.  I know I need to work on giving her my full attention when we are together. (Yes! That means I need to put the phone down, and get off of Facebook and stop texting---I know that)

The same goes with God.  I don't know how I expect to nurture a relationship with Him when I continously fail to make time for prayer with him.   Going to mass every Saturday evening just isn't cutting it.  I have to develop and work on my prayer life.  I need to set aside time to be with God and to listen to what He has to say to me that day. 

I love Abby very much.   Most nights all I want to do is get to the end of my shift so I can go home to her.   Sadly, there are other times, when I take her for granted and don't appreciate what I have.   The same goes for God although it is normally the opposite.  I take Him for granted most of the time and don't appreciate Him.  And then there are other times when I have great prayer moments and want to spend more time with Him. 

The bottom line is---we have to nurture our relationships with those that we love.   We need to tend to them and ensure that our loved ones know how we feel.  We need to spend time with them.   Otherwise, it becomes easy to take them for granted.