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Do you ever wonder how others perceive you?  Are you keeping a finger on the pulse of the most precious relationships in your life?

Today, we are on part 3 of 4-talking about finding balance in your life. I want to direct you to Colossians 3:12-14. It says,

“Put on then, as God’s chosen ones (that’s YOU), holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.”

The “T” in this series that I am doing is for Take the pulse in the relationships in your life. Remember, the H is for have the right priorities and A is for Act accordingly upon those priorities, and now T is for Take the pulse in the relationships in your life.

Moms, relationships always come first. I have said many times, especially to my homeschooling friends, we should never let a math book come between us and our children. The relationship of the child will always be more important than the math lesson. So, relationships always come first. People come before processes, people come before possessions.

It’s so easy in this life to carelessly railroad our way through as we try to get school done for the day or tasks completed that are weighing on us.  We say things that we shouldn’t say. We’re unkind to those who are closest to us. Most moms I know want to set an example for people who are watching.  Let’s be real—and start with those whom we are closest to. It’s often easier to be kind to the man behind the counter at the bank than it is to treat our own family with kindness.

I believe this is because we’re most secure with our closest relationships.  The guy at Walmart doesn’t have to live with me, so he can call the manager over and throw me out of the store if I’m rude to him, right?  Our kids don’t have that option—so it’s easier to show the ugly side of ourselves to them.

We have a choice about how we treat others. Colossians 3 starts with, “Put on then…” I love that! It means we have a choice!  We either put it on, or not. Paul is saying, put it on, as God’s chosen one, a holy and beloved. He is trying to make a point to us!  He’s saying God loves us, and because of God’s great love for us, we can put on compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another.

I love this one, because it’s the hardest one for me:

“If one has a complaint against another, forgive each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.”

It makes me wonder, how many times have my children seen me be a person I would not want others to see?  How do I react to them when they sin against me, when they disobey me, when I’m frustrated? It’s easy to lash out and say things that I do not mean, or (let’s be honest) things I do mean them but I should not say.

Are we keeping our finger on the pulse of the relationships at home?

Ask yourself, “How do others perceive me? How do my children  perceive me? How does my husband perceive me? How am I treating my husband?”

As you go about your day today, ask the Lord to put others first in your life; take the pulse of the relationships in your life.

When I was a young girl, I went to an evangelical free church and we used to sing a song called Jesus, Others, and You, some of you might remember it.  The point of that little song was to help us learn to prioritize our relationships.  Jesus comes first, then others, and then ourselves.

We don’t live in a culture that backs that up anymore, but the Bible says that we are loved with an everlasting love.  For the Christian, this means that we not only have the privilege, but also have the responsibility to share that love with the people around us.

We live in a world that is hungry for real relationships. Not online relationships, but the kind that survive missteps and hard times.  Relationships are worth investing in.  Take the pulse of the relationships in your life, moms.

As you work to find balance in your life, remember that relationships always come first.