Choosing between good

As we walk along the paths of life we all become familiar with and sometimes focused on choosing between good and bad. We all want to be able to choose that which is good instead of bad. Sometimes, and often times we fail at that so it is a good focus to be able to choose the straight and narrow so to speak. But something that can sometimes be even harder is choosing between two different good things.

Over the past few months I've been growing in my understanding of marital life and learning about my own desires to provide for and love my wife. With that sometimes comes the temptation to work overtime at work. The logic goes like this. I can provide more food, more clothing, more comfort for my wife if we have some more money, which requires working more. I've seen it in so many men's lives as they try to provide for their families in these ways. But it necessarily requires the sacrifice of time, time doing other things like playing with your kids or talking to your wife. You ultimately have to decide which is more important to you, providing for your family materially, or providing for your family by being there for them. Its an issue of balance.

Whats been making me think about this is at my current job they are offering loads of overtime over the past couple months. For the most part I usually just delete the e-mails without reading them, but today I found myself reading the e-mails and briefly considering working on Saturday because our budget has been a little tight for the past couple weeks. But thankfully I realized my error and dismissed the ridiculous idea of giving up a day with my wife especially since the only time we get to spend time together during the week is at breakfast and while in bed. How ludicrous it would have been to give in to that temptation, but then its a very common thing and a very easy temptation to give in to. And it has benign motives too! We have our loved ones in mind when we do these things. I think we just need to think through it more before we unintentionally walk away from our families.

For His Glorious Name,
Jason