As we prepare today to welcome year 2021 and finalize this series; one of the most important areas of our lives without a doubt is our personal relationships. Unfortunately, although we all agree that family comes first we normally tend to leave them for last… The same way we make plans to advance our career; to buy a house or a car; we must also make plans for what we want to see come true with our loved ones. It is unfortunate to recognize that many times our family and our personal relationships are an area which we do not even give the slightest thought when it comes to goal setting. But that is precisely why we will talk about it today and this year it will be different!
Our relationships (Marriage, children, family and friends) – The reason why very rarely we give the necessary attention that our personal relationships deserve is because we are not intentional with what we do with those people we say we love. Relationships grow and strengthen when we are intentional about them. That is why in a society so electronically connected but emotionally disconnected, we must set goals to strengthen and bless our personal relationships.
This goal category can be very broad since in the area of marriage by it self we could have more than 5 goals. But we will provide a guide that will help you establish your own goals for the different relationships in our life.
- Our Marriages:
- Improve communication by taking at least 15 to 30 minutes a day to discuss family, daily issues, and home matters.
- Take quality time to enjoy each other with a weekly or monthly date night. It doesn’t have to be something that involves expenses; it can be a walk in the park, or sitting in front of a lake; and if you can go to dinner. The important thing is that time to disconnect from the world to connect with your loved one.
- Keeping the flame of love burning by being intentional in both your emotional and physical intimacy. Send a text message telling your spouse that you love him, give him a call, initiate the intimacy approach for a change and finally be intentional in your demonstration of love and affection.
- Sit down together to prepare the monthly budget for your household finances. If there is one thing that causes stress in marriages is financial problems. But without a doubt if we took the time to talk and order our finances together we would have less fights and disagreements.
- Let’s make an effort to get away by ourselves once a year. Two or three days that we can dedicate or sacrifice for our marriage is a valuable investment that will reward 100 folds.
- The children:
- Like our marriages, our children, individually need us to improve communication; Therefore, we must dedicate 10 to 15 minutes a day to talk with them. Ask how they feel or if there is something that bothers them or something we can do to help them as parents. Today technology has brought us closer in a way to those who are far away but it has alienated us from those who are close in our own home. This is why it is crucial to instill in our children the importance of taking time each day to talk with those of us who live in the same home.
- They also need quality time. So it would be good to set aside one day a week to have a fun time with them; either taking them to the park or eating an ice cream; something that that would make them feel important. I know sometimes it is hard to set time aside but we must make sacrifices.
- Praise your children. Tell them you love them. When they do something right, congratulate them; and when they do something wrong, correct them. Correction with love is also love. Our children need to hear from their parents that they love them and are proud of them.
- Take your family on vacation at least once a year. You work very hard all year long and both you and your family long for that fun time out of the monotony. You can take a vacation even within your own country. Use the ingenuity that God has given you and make this year an adventure for your family.
- Extended family members:
- Pick up the phone and call your loved ones at least once a week or several times a month. Even with all the technology we have and its advances, many times we are not intentional in nurturing those relationships with the extended family; parents, adult children, grandparents, siblings, in-laws, cousins, uncles, etc. Analyze your available time and say I’m going to call once a week or a month … the important thing is that you call. There is a father, a mother, a child, a grandparent waiting for us to call.
- In the same way visit … we know that we live very busy lives where many times we do not have time; But let’s make an intentional effort at least on special occasions to physically visit our relatives. It is beautiful to see a united family!
- Friends and brothers in the faith. In the same way, we must be intentional with those friends and brothers in faith that we love so much and that are very valuable in our lives.
- Send a text message to 5 people in this category twice a week. Depending on the time you have and how long this list of friends and brothers in the faith is, you can reach everyone several times a year.
- Call or visit and show compassion in difficult times. Let people see and feel that you are there to support them in their time of need.