A friend posted this on Facebook this week. She got it from Relationship Rules.
People make time for who they want to make time for. People text and reply to people they want to talk to. Never believe anyone who says they’ve been too busy. If they wanted to be around you, they would.
Wow, that snapped me to attention. How about you?
Same 24 hours
I know you know this. We each have 24 hours in a day. We each need to spend 6-8 of those sleeping to be our best. We each take time out to eat. Beyond that, we have so many choices.
Are you choosing to spend some of your 24 hours with other people?
With which people?
Do you focus on the person right in front of you at any given moment?
Do you gravitate to the ‘squeeky wheel’ or most annoying just to make them stop?
How about the relationships you claim are the most important in your life?
Are you guilty as I am? I know I can get so caught up in the immediate needs placed before me, I can get through an entire day shortchanging my family, especially my husband.
What about friends? Which relationships will still be with you into retirement? How much attention do they receive from you?
Investing in Personal Relationships
There’s an exercise we do in Retirement Wellness Strategies™ to think through which relationships will fade and which will sustain.
Think about with whom you would plan a vacation or weekend getaway. If you were traveling, with which friends would you stay while in their area, or at least let them know you’re in town to get together?
How much of your attention are you giving your spouse these days? Is it enough? How much time will you spend together after retirement? Are you on the same page with these answers?
Planning for a socially healthy retirement takes some focus. We can help! Contact us at Retirement Wellness Strategies to learn how we can help you have a healthy – physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, socially – retirement!
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BIBLICAL APPLICATION
Do your stated priorities and the way you spend your time align?
Does the time you spend with people reflect their importance in your life?
Whew, those are tough questions!
Are you waiting for later to spend quality time with the people who matter most?
Just when we think we are good planners and have our lives prioritized and together, James is brutally direct:
James 4:13-15 ESV
Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”
It is so easy to take those we love for granted and give all of our time to people who will not be with us in our most critical times of life. It is also easy to be around people who are comfortable and avoid relationships that are more challenging.
And what about our call to love our neighbors? Who is that? What does it mean?
1 Peter 4:8 ESV
Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.
1 Thessalonians 5:11 ESV
Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.
Psalm 39:4-5 ESV
“O Lord, make me know my end and what is the measure of my days; let me know how fleeting I am! Behold, you have made my days a few handbreadths, and my lifetime is as nothing before you. Surely all mankind stands as a mere breath!”
Look to the one source of ‘right living’. It is amazing how all of the important things fit into a day when the Lord directs it.
Proverbs 16:9 ESV
The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.
Your future is loving and beautiful when you are living a life dedicated to God.
Matthew 24:36 ESV
“But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.”
May we all make wise choices with each of our 24 hours. I’m praying for you as you prioritize those God calls you to love. Please pray for me, too.
Blessings,
Michelle
yourhealthandsoul 