REFLECTION   (Day 7 of 7)
(Need to start at the beginning? Day 1)

Our three areas of reflection this week.

BE A SAFE PLACE – so your spouse can trust in you.
REST – get enough rest, take care of your heart, mind, and soul.
WORK – be intentional about where you spend your time and effort.

Interesting week for me.

I spent a good deal of time thinking about being a safe place for my husband. A part of that is knowing his personal wounds, his love language, his needs, his desires, etc.

I’m doing better with the rest thing and I need some work on the rest/play/work balance (I’ve gotten a bit lazy with the housework, need to deal with that).

(Just a pretty picture. Because.)

How did y’all do? What did you learn? What were your successes (however small)?

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Image credit © InspiredImages / Pixabay
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REFLECTION   (Day 6 of 7)
(Need to start at the beginning? Day 1)

Our three areas of reflection this week.

BE A SAFE PLACE – so your spouse can trust in you.
REST – get enough rest, take care of your heart, mind, and soul.
WORK – be intentional about where you spend your time and effort.

If one of the work areas you are struggling with is housework or organizing your home, I encourage you to check out Home Storage Solutions 101. I especially like their 52 Weeks to an Organized Home Challenge. Every week I look at one area of my home. That area gets my focused attention, unused items get removed, and it all gets cleaned and organized. The resulting space is easier to use and easier to clean. (You can start the challenge any time, just jump in!)

The other thing I’d like to point out is that this style of breaking up work in a weekly manner could be used for any kind of ongoing activity or project. Doing things by the week means you have some flexibility as to when the work gets done and the amount of work is relatively small.

What are your more challenging work areas? Could you use a weekly breakdown to make the work easier and more doable?

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Image credit © Photo by Herrmann Stamm / Unsplash
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REFLECTION   (Day 5 of 7)
(Need to start at the beginning? Day 1)

Our three areas of reflection this week.

BE A SAFE PLACE – so your spouse can trust in you.
REST – get enough rest, take care of your heart, mind, and soul.
WORK – be intentional about where you spend your time and effort.

The other day I was watching a YouTube video by Living Traditions Homestead (11:30 timestamp) and the couple was talking about how they will continue to raise pigs but not breed them anymore.

The time and effort involved was just too great, and they wanted to invest more in their gardens and other livestock. In effect, they were giving themselves permission to stop doing something good that they enjoy, realizing they can’t do everything. They talked about what they valued and made a hard choice, saying no to some things and yes to others.

The video stuck with me throughout the day. Paul was listening in and we talked about it some. We really appreciated how transparent Kevin and Sarah were about the reality of time and energy limitations.

We, of course, made the marriage connection. There is only so much time and energy available in a given day. Keeping your marriage healthy means making time for your spouse and those things that create a growing bond.

Have you and your sweetie talked about what is really important to you both? Can you make time for those things and say no to the less important?

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Image credit © benj500 / Pixabay
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REFLECTION (Day 4 of 7)
(Need to start at the beginning? Day 1)

Our three areas of reflection this week.

BE A SAFE PLACE – so your spouse can trust in you.
REST – get enough rest, take care of your heart, mind, and soul.
WORK – be intentional about where you spend your time and effort.

Do y’all struggle with procrastination (or procrastination in a particular area of life)? I do sometimes. Something seems overwhelming or, let’s get real, I really don’t want to do whatever it is. When it comes to being intentional about loving and serving others, there can be some real procrastination challenges.

When I run into something like this, I try to understand my why and then make practical small steps to work through it. Sometimes bookkeeping can be overwhelming, but I can sort the receipts by date as a baby step. If I don’t know where to start on something, I can brainstorm with Paul or call a friend. If I’m routinely too tired to do something, I rethink my workload.

Understanding your why is pretty important. If you need more on this, check out Moving Past Procrastination to a Great Marriage by Lori Ferguson. It’s an amazing book and at $2.99 for the Kindle version, it’s a steal.

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Image credit © photographer / source
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REFLECTION   (Day 3 of 7)
(Need to start at the beginning? Day 1)

Our three areas of reflection this week.

BE A SAFE PLACE – so your spouse can trust in you.
REST – get enough rest, take care of your heart, mind, and soul.
WORK – be intentional about where you spend your time and effort.

What gives you energy? What wakes you up and brings joy? I’d really like to hear from y’all (please comment to share).

Having lived under snow for the last few months, I realize how important blue and green are … and I totally miss my garden.

I need the beauty of plants growing, the sunshine, and grandchildren eating all my peas off the vine. I enjoy the softness of my cat and the cuteness of baby bunnies (I’m up to about 22 now). Talks and snuggles with Paul. YouTube videos for learning and seed catalogs for dreaming (I’m going to grow some amaranth this year and maybe more strawberries).

Just an encouragement today to find those things that bring you joy and make life sweet. Stay energized and love on your sweetie.

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Image credit © Eszter Miller / Pixabay
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REFLECTION   (Day 2 of 7)
(Need to start at the beginning? Day 1)

Our three areas of reflection this week.

BE A SAFE PLACE – so your spouse can trust in you.
REST – get enough rest, take care of your heart, mind, and soul.
WORK – be intentional about where you spend your time and effort.

The other day I ran across this picture and I thought it was so pretty in its simplicity and form.

I showed it to Paul (our desks sit next to each other) and we had a moment of shared appreciation.

I think seeking out beauty and enjoying it is a part of the “rest” package. Beauty nurtures our soul. And shared beauty is good for your marriage relationship.

Beauty can be found in many places. It just takes some effort to notice. Sitting here at my computer I can see our pond thawing out the window (still a snowscape but with hope of spring). My cat is curled up nearby and looking sweet (don’t let her fool you, though, she is nicknamed the Tilly-nator). And there are simple things like a stack of my favorite books or a bowl of fruit. They all have their own brand of beauty.

Keep on the lookout for bits of beauty and share them with your spouse. 

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Image credit © Image by jan baars / Pixabay
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