5 Ways to Connect Your Hearts When Your Calendar Explodes
Connect Your Hearts
Connect your hearts with these tips…
Whew … I’m sitting here writing this post in between loads of laundry, looking at furniture way past needing to be dusted. We have had a crazy busy month. Four Saturdays in a row, at least one of the three of us was gone.
Between church commitments, family obligations, and our daughter’s never-ending schedule of cheerleading, homework, and “hanging out” with friends, this seems to be a season of pure chaos in our home. Perhaps you can relate?
I remember when my girl was younger and our life seemed so boring. We spent almost every night at home and the highlight of our weekends was having friends with young children over for cooking out or watching ball games.
It’s easy for me to get lost in longing for those days again. At the time, I didn’t always see how precious the weeks with nothing on the calendar were.
Seasons are a beautiful thing. Here in north Alabama, we are finally experiencing the gorgeous autumnal colors. Just like I appreciate the special beauty of fall, winter, spring, and summer, my desire is also to find the loveliness in the different seasons we face in our marriage and family life.
As I’ve looked back over the past few weeks and looked ahead to the full schedule that comes with the holiday season, I’m quite aware that staying connected with my husband will require effort in the midst of an exploding calendar. Here are five ways we’ve learned to be intentional about heart connection during the busy seasons.
5 Ways to Connect Your Hearts When Your Calendar Explodes
1. Take five.
We make it a point to spend five minutes together every day – just the two of us. Usually it’s over a cup of coffee after I take my girl to school and before he leaves for work. But even when our mornings don’t allow that, we make it a point to connect for five minutes as some point throughout the day.
2. Go to bed together.
The busier our schedule is, the more we make it a priority to go to bed at the same time. Yes, it might be easier for me to stay up and finish a load of laundry, or for him to stay up and do some work in the peace and quiet after everyone else is asleep. But there is great value in lying down next to each other, especially on those days when we’ve been going nonstop in different directions.
3. Use technology.
Last year I wrote a series called 28 days, 28 ways about connecting with your husband in simple ways. One of my suggestions was to send him a selfie. As silly as that may sound, I try to make it a point to do that when life is crazy. With all the technology we have at our disposal these days, why not use it to help us stay connected with our husbands?
4. Ask this question.
In that same series, I shared one question I aim to ask my husband every day: How can I help you today? More than anything else, this question helps me keep my heart focused on him on the busy days. By knowing what he needs from me, whether it’s taking clothes to the cleaners or looking for a book he needs, I am reminded of my special role as his helper.
5. Pray.
Of all the things we do to stay connected when the calendar is crazy, prayer is the most important—and often the most neglected. It’s easy when we’re both busy and going in different directions for a gap to form between us. Prayer is the most powerful way we have to keep that from happening.
The busy seasons will come for all of us. But by taking just a few specific steps, we can keep our hearts connected even when the calendar explodes!
How do you and your spouse connect your hearts during the busy seasons?
Guest Author:
Teri Lynne Underwood is a Word lover and idea slinger. She’s a wife and mom, a writer and speaker. But mostly she’s just a girl who loves Jesus. Founder of Prayers for Girls, a vibrant community for girl moms and author of Praying for Girls: Asking God for the Things They Need Most, Teri Lynne’s heart desire is to encourage women to live in the full life God has for them.
