i’m currently reading (for the second time) & really loving free by mark scandrette. this book questions our preconceived notions of how we spend our money & time & allows us to ask ourselves just how those resources could be spent in areas that matter the most.
along with our church body, we are challenging ourselves to dig deep & define who we are as individuals, what we care about as a family unit, how best to spend our money (even when the temptation to spend is truly endless!) & how to rearrange our schedules so that we’re able to create margin for rest & service.
this book is, once again, fueling great conversation among our family & providing a clearer image of what we hope for our future. i firmly believe that we cannot shape the future that we hope for unless we have these big conversations as a family.
without these conversations & reminders about how we spend our time & money, luke & i would find ourselves trying to simply “keep up.” during the holiday season, when the promise of having that thing will change you or make you more likable, it’s especially important.
here are some takeaways from our family conversations on money & time:
– we appreciate extra income for travel & home projects & are content to work more in order to fuel those interests.
– we enjoy working alongside one another & hope to make some future career shifts that facilitate this.
– we don’t so much care about new cars or a fancy home. we feel best in our fixer upper home & farm with no car payments.
– we want to have children, but our hope is that we can free up one parent to just work part-time to tend to the needs of future babies.
– we enjoy community & the activities it brings, but we would like to set aside & protect one afternoon for self-care/family-care & rest.
i hope these thoughts inspire you to set aside a day & talk about your goals! grab free from amazon & use it as your guide if you’d like. it’s proven to be the perfect resource to really engage as a family in these key life areas.
do you have conversations about money & time as a family? please share!
love,
natalie