Family First Friday - Solid Yellow Lines • Melissa Mashburn

It’s my goal to share with you some tips, ideas, and strategies on how to keep your first things first with this series. I first have to be quite honest with you…I do not have it all together, my kids are not perfect, and I am a work in progress, just like you. I do, however, have two teenage boys, have been married for 16 1/2 years, and have had some very “bumpy” seasons in my life which have forced me to really evaluate what really was my first priority.

I think that is why I am so passionate about keeping your FAMILY FIRST. I had to learn it the hard way and because I have I would love to share some of that insight with y’all. So let’s get started on making choices today on how to keep the family first.

Let’s start with SOLID YELLOW LINES…

(photo from Flickr user Clearly Ambiguous)

Solid yellow lines by definition is something that you do not cross. It is a boundary. It keeps you in line and on track, right?

We need some solid yellow lines in our families so that we can keep our Family First. One way we do that in our family is that we actually schedule out our family time. I know, I know…it sounds weird and silly, but if you think about it, we schedule everything else out, don’t we?

Doctor’s appointments, cheerleading practices, soccer games, car pools, youth group, and everything else that keeps our Mom Taxi constantly on the road.

Why not take the time while you are scheduling out your calendar for the week and make sure you schedule in some FAMILY time. When you do that you are saying we are making an effort to make sure that we keep our family first. Otherwise things will come up, and you know they will, and you’ll push it aside, you’ll postpone it, you’ll say “can we do that another time honey?” and all the other great things we come up with on the fly when we have too many things going on. I know because I have said them (more often than I care to admit).

When you schedule that Family First time in your calendar, agenda, outlook it becomes just as important as all the other meetings, appointments, calls, errands that you do. Yes, some things can just “happen” and you can run out to get ice cream (preferably Coldstone, ha!), but when you plan it out, schedule it, and keep that solid yellow line on it (which means that it is so important that you won’t reschedule or cancel) then you are telling your kids that they count and are important to you.

Hey, it’s a step towards making your Family First, and after awhile these steps will add up and you will begin to see the fruits of your labor.

Apply it:

Some time this weekend sit down and schedule a family outing, something simple, something big, whatever it is that you and your family want to do (hint…let the kids be a part of the decision, they might just surprise you), then draw solid yellow lines around that appointment so that there is nothing that will keep you from making it (I like yellow highlighters).

Father God, as we seek to keep our Family First would you guide our steps. Help us to realize that our kids are the most sweetest and precious gift. We want them to grow up to be world changers for you God and we thank you that you’ve entrusted them to us. Show us how to put up Solid Yellow Lines so that our kids know that our family really is the most important thing to us. We love you Father, we ask for blessings on our families, in Jesus Precious Name, Amen.

Come back next week as we take another step on this journey of keeping our Family First in this crazy, busy, & hectic world.

Seeking JOY on the Journey,