Do we have time for each other?
LLC Home and Family Workshop
Keith Waaraniemi
Stony Lake Camp
October 19–21, 2012
Loving is taking time for each
other
 Christ’s dual commandment of love guides us:
“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart,
and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is
the first and great commandment. And the second
is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as
thyself”(Matt. 22:37-39).
Values of the Home
 The home is where family
members spend time
together, sharing both
joys and sorrows.
 Creating a secure
atmosphere in the home
and teaching Christian
values requires time
together.
 SING SHZ 420:1
Song 420:1
Like boughs that bear abundance /
when firmly on the tree, / as people
we’re created / to with each other
be. / We thank You for our fam’lies, /
the life that You established, / Your
gifts to us, O Lord.
Sharing the load
Responsibility for the well-being of the home
and common activities belongs to each family
member.
When there is love and warmth in the home,
matters and responsibilities are shared.
“Now the end of the commandment is charity
out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience,
and of faith unfeigned”(Tim. 1:5).
What requires the most gives
the most
 Establishing a family requires commitment:
 Managing our time
 Responsibility
 Everyday life is strenuous and full.
 Rewarding and fulfilling
 What requires the most also gives the most.
 SING SHZ 420:2
Song 420:2
We need each other, Father, / an
open, warm embrace, / the parents’
life experience, / the children’s
trusting gaze. / We meet with
disappointments, / surprises, and
enjoyment, / here trav’ling side by
side.
What requires the most gives
the most
 Amid our own imperfections the gospel is our
strength in the home.
 We need to feel the support of fellow
travelers.
 Every generation receives strength from the
Creator to follow His perfect plan!
Time Management Choices
 We have too little time for each
other.
 Today’s world emphasizes
selfishness, materialism,
entertainment.
 Individual hobbies and
recreation can take away from
family time.
Time Management Choices
 Everyday pressures can cause
us to be physically, but not
mentally present. “Here, but
not here.”
 Children not looking for
“quality time,” but adult
presence in everyday life.
 Make time management
choices for the family’s wellbeing.
Reasonable Responsibility
 Ever-increasing demands on
time.
 Coordinating life and work a
challenge.
 Reasonable responsibility – that
which we can reasonably do is
enough.
 Consider one’s ability to fulfill
both work and home
commitments.
 Becoming overwhelmed,
depressed, and burnt out can be
the result of trying to do more
than possible.
Balance in kingdom work and
activities
 Work forms and activities in Christianity:
 What is truly necessary and essential?
 Is our commitment as participants and workers
diminishing?
 Responsibility for the work on the shoulders of a few.
 Gifts and resources of all are needed.
 “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together,
as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another:
and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching”
(Heb. 10:25).
Difficulties in Homes
and Families
 Adversities belong to everyday life:
 Weariness
 Lack of focus
 Illness
 Unemployment
 Financial trials
 Adversities and trials in the home are faced in a manner
that engenders peace and security.
 Our goal is to nurture the home’s well-being.
Work and Careers
 Materialism in society can also affect
and burden believers.
 Goal can be to have everything at
once.
 Focus on material things can cloud
faith.
 Temptation to compare
 God's Word guides toward a moderate
way of life.
 Temporal struggles do not mean that
God’s blessing is missing.
 We can each ask God for a content
mind.
Pressure from society, friends,
and relatives
 Life’s difficulties and the pressure from society
and other believers to conform can lead to
putting on a false front.
 “We can manage.” “Things are fine.”
 This can lead us to not seek help from other
believers and agencies in society that assist
families.
Relationships in the home
require time together
 Spousal relationship needs
caretaking.
 Personal time.
 Time for each other as a
couple.
 Nurturing the spousal
relationship is caring for the
family.
Lack of time together can cause
growing apart
 Does my spouse have time for my thoughts?
 Do I have time for my spouse’s thoughts?
 Am I being heard as an individual?
 Is my spouse being heard as an individual?
 Is everything else more important than time
for the marriage and family?
 Are we drifting apart?
 SING SHZ 420:3
Song 420:3
With selfishness and hurry, / how
blinded we become. / We scarcely
even notice / our dear ones’ needs at
home. / But then we pray, dear
Father, / and share our stress and
burden / within the care of Christ.
Social Relationships
 Friends are also
In our time, connections to
important.
relatives and dear ones can weaken.  Excessive social
We must work to maintain them.
interaction outside of the
family can negatively effect
family relationships.
 An overuse of social media
may cause difficulties in
time management, as well
as trivializing personal
relationships.
Take time to hear God's Word
 Services are the central
activity of Christianity.
 In the hearing of God's Word,
personal faith is strengthened
and refreshed.
 Take time as a family for Services, Bible class, Sunday
school, camps, discussions, and visiting each other.
The Goal is Heaven
 Above all, living faith keeps
hope and the future in our
sights.
 In the midst of all stages of
life we can have childlike
trust that God will help.
 The Old Testament prophet expressed the thoughts of the
Lord toward His own - thoughts of peace, and not of evil,
to give them a future and hope. (Jer. 29:11)
 SING SHZ 420:4
Song 420:4
Stay with us, dear Lord Jesus, / stay
close in every phase, / when we let
go and part here, / face deepest
sorrow’s days. / For You alone can
carry / and let us grow securely /
beneath Your beams of grace.
Discussion Questions
 Why do we have too little time for each other?
 How can we lighten the load of our dear ones?
 What does it mean in practice to make time
management choices for the well-being of the family?
 What does it mean when we say “that which we can
reasonably do is enough?
 How do we with the right heart view our time for the
activities and work of the kingdom vs. home time?
 What does moderation mean regarding material
goods?
 Are we too proud to ask for help?