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Christlife Posture: Trusting God's Wisdom

Topic: Prioritizing Family vs. Job

 

Suggested Approach: Choose 1 thing from each of the three boxes

OR Choose 1 from Media or Reflection + 1 from Scripture 

Media Excursions Watch/read/listen and be ready to discuss Q's

Still Image/Digital Art

  • Balance (Trudi Simmonds) What thoughts come to mind while you look at this picture and think about balancing your work life and family life? What is your "elephant"? How strong does the membrane around your "tree" seem to you? 

Video Clip

  • The Jar of Life (Access Ideas Malaysia AIM) What are your big rocks? How often do you find yourself filling up your time in ways that cause you to neglect what is important to you? 

  • Not My Problem (onetimeblind) Which problems do you tend to ignore more often—work issues or family issues? Where do you displace the responsibility for the problems you are ignoring?

  • Balancing Act (High Calling Video) What "plates" are you trying to balance? Where do you think you are in the balance between "feeling good about work and working to feel good"?

Song

  • Giving Your Family Leftovers  (High Calling Video) and Cat's in the Cradle (Cat Stevens) Watch the High Calling Video and then listen to this classic song.  If you look at your actions today with your family, what kinds of values do you think they are modeling? How would you feel if your children grew up and lived out those same values? 

Article ​

  • Striking the Right Balance between Work and Family Life (Dr. Gary and Barbara Rosberg) Did you fit any of the stats mentioned? How satisfied are you with your work/life balance? How has your career or having children affected the time you spend with your spouse? What would you like to be different?

  • Balancing Work and Family (Greg Leith) Did any of his suggestions stand out to you? Which ones were most thought provoking?  Which one or two will you try to implement? 

Personal Stories

  • Work Life Balance and a Family (ACCA) How do these women balance work and family commitments? Are there things that you think they are missing? How would you invite God into this kind of balancing equation? 

Reflection Options  

Journal  (reflect on one or more of these questions)

  • Having a family is a good thing.  Having a career is a good thing.  What principles have you used to make decisions when family and career have conflicted? 

  • Do you have a life mission statement that helps you keep your priorities in perspective? Alternately, do you have a family mission statement or a career mission statement?  If so, take some time to journal about how well you are keeping that mission statement.  If not, take some time to begin to craft a mission statement (Life/or Family/or Career). What scripture passages do you want to incorporate into your statement? 

Quote Interaction (Interact by agreeing, disagreeing or otherwise engaging with the quote/quotes)

  • Remember always that your work or ministry or position dare never keep you from your family. If you fail them, you fail your greatest responsibility – and you are a failure in life. (Ted Engstrom)

  • The first priority of my life is to be holy, and the second goal of my life is to be a scholar.  (Charles Wesley) 

  • Is it not strange that we can for one moment lose sight of heaven, and the increasing glory; and grovel in the dust to gather pebbles, for the pleasure of throwing them afterwards away? (Mary Winslow)

Reading & Reflection from the book, Shaping The Journey of Emerging Adults: 

  • Read "Everyday priorities: Living life meaningfully" (pp. 194-195).  There are many things​ mentioned in this section that compete for our time and attention.  Which ones distract you most from family? Which ones distract you most in your career?  Do you agree with the priority list "God, family and everything else"? Why or why not? 

  • Read "A shift from temporal to eternal" (pp. 219-220).  How might considering what is eternal affect how you think about balancing family life and work life? 

Explore Scripture

Meditate on one or more of the following passages. Always look them up in context.  Take some time to really explore the verse in relation to this topic.  What can you learn from these verses that might help you in thinking about how to balance family and career?  Make a note of what you discover to share later.  See "Learn More About Ways to Study Scripture" below for help in getting the most out of the verse.

  • Psalm 127:1-5

  • Proverbs 11:29

  • Proverbs 16:1–9

  • Proverbs 23:4-5

  • Proverbs 31:10-31

  • Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

  • John 10:10

  • Ephesians 5:25-33

  • 1 Timothy 6:6–11

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