I have to admit I got a little grumpy last night. It wasn't anything anyone did. In fact, my family was being rather nice to me. It was just that I wasn't being nice to them.
Recently we purchased a new computer for me. I'm a writer, and I do a lot of stuff online, so I do need a good one. My old notebook I'd had for a number of years and it was getting so slow that sometimes I couldn't even get online.
Now, I love new computers. But I hate having to move everything over. And my photo editing software wasn't working. So for hours I sat at my brand spanking new notebook, frustrated at life.
And I get that way quite frequently. When I'm involved in some work project that isn't going well, or when I'm trying to get some piece of technology to work, family members start to bug me. It's not that they're doing anything bad, either. They want to talk, or they want to show me something, or they're just chatting in the background. But when I'm trying to concentrate, they bug me.
I think that's the root of much of our complaining tendencies. We get caught up in something WE'RE doing, and in the meantime everyone else just living around us gets to be annoying, because it's a distraction. But family should never be a distraction.
Too often, though, we spend our lives doing things, whether it's working on the computer, or cleaning the house, or planning something at church, and because of that we feel pressure. And when we feel pressure, our loved ones become problems.
Or perhaps we're not even doing anything big. Maybe we're just trying to relax by watching a TV show, and our little ones want us to read to them. That's when we get grumpy and complain about never having any time to ourselves.
Don't get me wrong; we do need such time. But often we make choices about what to do with our time that isn't really in our best interests, let alone our family's. Do you know what I find most rewarding? Taking an evening and spending it with my kids, rather than in front of the computer. We play a game, or go for a walk, or bake something. It's nothing huge, but it's relaxing, and we laugh together.
We make choices that squeeze out that laughter. We forget how to just have fun together, and that's why we get complaining. We choose things that focus on us, rather than on our family. Yet those things we choose don't relax us; more often than not they frustrate us.
So here's your challenge for Day 4: Do something fun with your family today. It doesn't have to be big; but do something where you will laugh together with no other agenda in mind. Learn how to have fun together again. And you just may find the complaining goes away!
Scroll down for all the other challenges, or go to the original post. They're all listed at the bottom!
My husband gets mad and says that the family only ever needs him when he's on the computer and doing something. I tell him that that's pretty much a "duh" thing since he is pretty much ALWAYS on the computer doing something. If nobody bothered him when he was on the computer, we would literally NEVER get to see him or talk to him.
I LOVE this blog...it was like you were reading my brain. There is so much insight in this post. I can't wait to go back and read the rest of this series...thank you for your words today. They are a blessing!
I can relate to : "when we feel pressure, our loved ones become problems"!! I find myself falling in to this trap often! A reminder that I need to make sure that my focus is on the right thing.
About Me: I'm a Christian author of a bunch of books, and a frequent speaker to women's groups and marriage conferences. Best of all, I love homeschooling my daughters, Rebecca and Katie. And I love to knit. Preferably simultaneously.
Stumble It!
My husband gets mad and says that the family only ever needs him when he's on the computer and doing something. I tell him that that's pretty much a "duh" thing since he is pretty much ALWAYS on the computer doing something. If nobody bothered him when he was on the computer, we would literally NEVER get to see him or talk to him.