Deposits and Withdraws

Okay, so this was one of those days that I came home from work and announced to my wife that I gave it all away! I told her I was on "E". It was just that kind of day. I had nothing left to give. Spent the first part of the day holding the hand of a dear sister in our church (Brigitte) whose Husband died during the night, dealt with several other heavy issues and ordeals, juggled meetings, juggled tasks, phone rang off the hook and then lead a counseling session and walked in the door of the house after 6pm. Exhausted. Low on energy. This is one of the many things that I have to protect against as a Pastor. It is easy to leave the leftovers to your family after giving the best of you away to everyone else.

Why am I sharing this?

Nights like this remind me of the rule of deposits and withdraws in relationships. I need to be making regular deposits into my marriage and into my kids. If I am, nights like tonight won't be a big deal. If I have sown in, it makes a big difference. Making regular deposits into our relational accounts gives us the relational equity to make a withdraw when we need to. Thankful that I have been doing better in this department over the last few years.


How are you doing with this? Are you spending adequate time with those you love so that you can check out when you need to without it being earth-shattering?