Spark Influence Podcast, EP 4, Food, Faith & Family
Transcript
00:00:01 Misty
You are listening to the Spark Influence Podcast with Spark Media founders Peter and Misty Phillip Spark
influence is a podcast about living a life with intention in marriage, family ministry and as business
leaders.
00:00:17 Misty
This show is brought to you by the Spark Media Podcast network.
00:00:20 Misty
Visit spark.
00:00:21 Misty
Media dot Ventures for more inspiring podcasts.
00:00:27 Misty
Well, we are back here today.
00:00:29 Misty
We have talked about servant leadership and we've talked about marriage when two become one and I
thought a natural progression would be when two become many.
00:00:40 Misty
What happens when you have a family?
00:00:42 Misty
How do you then balance the demands?
00:00:45 Misty
Of life and adding tiny humans and work and all the things.
00:00:51 Misty
So I thought we talked about family today.
00:00:54 Peter
Like a great.
00:00:55 Misty
Idea, yeah, so why don't we start off with you know what it's like when you first bring little people into
your family, right?
00:01:03 Misty
It rocks your world because here you are.
00:01:06 Misty
You know moving and grooving in your routine, and then you add little tiny humans that you're
suddenly responsible for.
00:01:16 Peter
Yeah, that's quite the change for the schedule, right?
00:01:18 Peter
Schedule goes out the door.
00:01:19 Peter
We kind of talked about this last week a little bit.
00:01:22 Peter
Especially about you know there's that kind of three segments.
00:01:26 Peter
Young couple with younger children, young children.
00:01:30 Peter
He kind of progressed more into the middle part where we're getting older.
00:01:33 Misty
The middle years.
00:01:34 Peter
Yeah, the middle years perfect and the kids are more high school ish and that kind of about to head out.
00:01:39 Peter
College age and then and and then you know post post college when they some of them leave and
then.
00:01:46 Peter
Hopefully they don't boomerang.
00:01:48 Peter
So yes, so the early years, definitely a change.
00:01:52 Peter
For couples, so it's really can be difficult to balance.
00:01:56 Peter
I'm doing my thing you're doing your thing and we're doing our thing and then we add this entire team
of other individuals into this who are incredibly needy and demand attention and and focus.
00:02:07 Peter
And you know, you want you're pouring into them.
00:02:10 Peter
You're trying to shape and mold and grow them.
00:02:12 Peter
But you also studied maintains your day job, so to speak, right?
00:02:16 Misty
Right?
00:02:16 Peter
And that can be quite challenging.
00:02:18 Peter
And I think.
00:02:20 Peter
Couples I I I highly recommend getting married early and having kids as often as possible like that's.
00:02:26 Peter
I cannot overstate how amazing that is like.
00:02:28 Peter
I I love that we had children early in that, and that they're older now and they're just as much fun.
00:02:33 Peter
Except I don't worry bout him you.
00:02:35 Peter
Know choking on something all the time, right like?
00:02:38 Peter
That that's the that that's the.
00:02:39 Peter
Best part about a big older but.
00:02:40 Peter
Just do it as early as possible.
00:02:41 Peter
It's so it's such a rich experience for couples, but there is that balancing act to figure this out like it's a
little more intimate, there has to be.
00:02:49 Peter
This is where I think we talked about.
00:02:53 Peter
You'd be very conscious of your partner and being very giving and selfless.
00:02:59 Peter
This is the beginning of selfless stage for you, right?
00:03:02 Peter
No longer you, it's.
00:03:03 Peter
US, but it's an expanded us 'cause it's not just.
00:03:07 Peter
Like if you and I are alone and we're just a couple member Bebopping and doing our thing.
00:03:11 Peter
We can sort things out.
00:03:13 Peter
I can have my quiet evening and you can go with your girls night and I can do you know, whatever
hunting trips with friends or you know, game nights or.
00:03:23 Peter
Ever then you had children and that that changes dramatically.
00:03:27 Misty
Right, so you suddenly went from, you know us going out to dinner every night with friends or whatever,
and to all of a sudden you know, no, we can't go out tonight because we have a baby who has a
bedtime.
00:03:40 Misty
But then as the children grow, I think one of the really important things for our family in particular.
00:03:47 Misty
Was the support of extended family. So we lived next door to Peter's parents when our boys were little
and I think just kids didn't know family structure.
00:04:00 Misty
Without Gigi and Papa.
00:04:01 Misty
So when they said family it was mom and dad and Gigi and Papa.
00:04:04 Misty
And I think that time around the table because that's the way that you grew up.
00:04:08 Misty
So why don't you talk about?
00:04:10 Misty
You know when you were a child and what it was like when you came home from school?
00:04:14 Peter
Uh, yeah, so I can hear the eye rolls going all around the world.
00:04:17 Peter
But you know, there's I had such a an amazing childhood growing up but.
00:04:22 Peter
'cause it was, it was the structure.
00:04:24 Peter
It was very much representative of the structure that God intended, right?
00:04:27 Peter
We were all together as a family all the time and we had extended family and everyone was kind of
always you always engaged with family and there's a different level of sort of intimacy that exists when
you know it's aunts and uncles and cousins and nieces and nephews, right?
00:04:41 Peter
That's a super rich.
00:04:42 Peter
Tapestry that gets woven but from the immediate family that was kind of what you talked about, right?
00:04:48 Peter
There was.
00:04:49 Peter
You know every day was dinner at the table and you have said this many times and I love that you say
it.
00:04:55 Peter
Don't underestimate the power.
00:04:57 Peter
Of the dinner table like that is 1.
00:04:59 Peter
Of the most powerful tools.
00:05:01 Peter
In a parent to children.
00:05:02 Peter
Arsenal of you capturing your children hearts and keeping abreast of what's happening today.
00:05:08 Peter
You have to actually say phone down.
00:05:10 Peter
TV off back then it was just TV off and it probably wasn't in that room so.
00:05:15 Peter
That intimacy that happens when you all sit down and you know and my family history is Italian for the
most part and there's a big emphasis on food.
00:05:25 Peter
And there's a difference that happens when you eat together like there's a there's a vulnerability in a
relaxed Ness that occurs.
00:05:31 Peter
That's not to be overstated, and so putting everybody at the table and then having a conversation.
00:05:39 Peter
No, I I could say no newspapers, but I don't think anybody reads a newspaper anymore.
00:05:43 Peter
I've missed this paper, but no, no.
00:05:45 Peter
You know, reading materials on the table, no phones and just talk to each other and.
00:05:48 Peter
Of that engagement and then making it a routine, a repetitive thing that you do all the time.
00:05:54 Peter
Don't do it on Sundays because you went out together.
00:05:58 Peter
That doesn't count if you go to a restaurant and eat dinner, that's that's still the meal together, but it's
not the same as being home with the family all the time, and that you will be amazed.
00:06:08 Peter
That what you uncover from your children, and then how that builds the dialogue routine where they're
comfortable communicating with you right and so you have to pull this out, you know.
00:06:18 Peter
And then when they're really young, if you start that formation when they're little, it becomes an
expectation, and then that's which I'll do all the time.
00:06:25 Misty
It also gives you as the parent the opportunity to impart values and to have current event discussions to
help teach your kids how to think and how to process what's happening in the world around them.
00:06:43 Misty
So I know for us.
00:06:45 Misty
You know, we began this practice when our kids were young.
00:06:49 Misty
Your parents would come over, and we'd we'd, you know, have Legos dumped on the table, and we
would all sit around and talk.
00:06:56 Misty
We're trying to get a word in edgewise and just forget it.
00:06:59 Misty
I just sat.
00:07:00 Misty
There because there were lots of heated conversations and you know passionate conversations.
00:07:05 Misty
But it was good, and then we modeled that for our kids.
00:07:08 Misty
But then, even as our kids have grown, one of the special things I think is when their college age friends
come over and say I love the way you do dinner.
00:07:20 Misty
And the way that y'all talk about everything.
00:07:23 Misty
I'm amazed at the families that coexist, but are not really communicating with one another.
00:07:30 Misty
So the.
00:07:31 Misty
Parents aren't really imparting values, they're too busy shuffling from one activity to the other, or
putting a screen in their children face.
00:07:40 Misty
Which I'm not saying anything against technology, we we have screens in our house.
00:07:44 Misty
We're all in on technology, but I think just having those gateways in those borders, and I think it goes
back to what you said.
00:07:52 Misty
About creating that routine like it has to be an important part of your family discipleship to want to
gather around the table.
00:08:02 Peter
Oh, 100% agreed and it looks very different. It looks very different when they're 10 years old or they're
two to 10, right?
00:08:10 Peter
It's very different than teenager.
00:08:13 Peter
You know, that's sort of approaching 11 to 18, right?
00:08:17 Peter
These are very different dynamics, and it's different if it's boys and girls, right?
00:08:21 Peter
So you know your family.
00:08:22 Peter
You know your kids build those routines.
00:08:26 Peter
Enforce them, be consistent with them and as they get older it gets more fun.
00:08:30 Peter
'cause like you said, the conversations can change and shift and become more more spirited.
00:08:35 Peter
More and more debates right?
00:08:37 Peter
And and it's it's truly an amazing time and not to be underestimated.
00:08:42 Peter
I would.
00:08:42 Peter
We couldn't overstate that.
00:08:44 Misty
One of the other things that I have loved about our family is it's not just the table time, but it's the
family that cooks together and we have invited our children into the kitchen with us to cook, and it's
been.
00:08:58 Misty
Great we have boys.
00:09:00 Misty
But we wanted our boys to learn how to cook.
00:09:02 Misty
You know, as well, like like you said, that Italian heritage and even you know, I just I love to cook and
happen to be a pretty good cook.
00:09:09 Misty
I might say.
00:09:10 Misty
But it's just really fun.
00:09:12 Misty
We've always included the kids, whether it was when they were young and we would juice a lot.
00:09:18 Misty
You know, from teaching them.
00:09:20 Misty
How to prepare?
00:09:22 Misty
There are different types of meals, just getting them, having them be a little sous chef.
00:09:27 Misty
I know when our oldest was young, there wasn't a lot on television that you knew was super safe for
your kids to watch, so we ended up watching food TV back in the day because it was relatively safe, but
it also gave us a a passion.
00:09:42 Misty
For healthy food and and being together.
00:09:46 Peter
Yeah good good good shows.
00:09:47 Peter
Back then that were safe and you know, was the Emeril Lagasse era there, right?
00:09:51 Peter
And yeah, bam and so.
00:09:54 Peter
But I mean, I, I think there's so many lessons that I liked.
00:09:57 Peter
You brought that point up because there's so many life lessons that can happen in all of these activities,
right?
00:10:04 Peter
Just the
00:10:05 Peter
Or the process of food.
00:10:06 Peter
Preparation and it could be when they're young, as simple as let's talk about with all the ingredients that
we're having.
00:10:13 Peter
And what are they?
00:10:14 Peter
Where do they come from?
00:10:15 Peter
What is the benefit?
00:10:16 Peter
Why are we eating them?
00:10:16 Peter
It also gives you a chance to impart heritage.
00:10:18 Peter
What are we cooking?
00:10:19 Peter
This was made by Grandma.
00:10:20 Peter
This comes from our family.
00:10:21 Peter
This was in the home country.
00:10:22 Peter
This is.
00:10:23 Peter
My family ate this in Sicily like we have a favorite recipe, puny meat that we eat that was passed from
my grandmother to my parents, my dad, my mom into us that comes from Sicily, right?
00:10:32 Peter
This is a dish that we adore.
00:10:34 Peter
And so when you have those, you're not only passing on knowledge and information that children can
use, your.
00:10:40 Peter
Also passing on heritage and tradition and those.
00:10:43 Peter
Really important grounders for children as they get older they have a sense of heritage.
00:10:47 Peter
They have a sense of history and their family because not everybody has an extra large extended family
and not a lot of relatives.
00:10:53 Peter
They can, and they may not live by him.
00:10:55 Peter
They may live.
00:10:55 Peter
Somewhere else they're.
00:10:56 Peter
Doubly more for our island feeling 'cause they may be.
00:10:59 Peter
Their families from Maine and they all live.
00:11:01 Peter
In Florida, right?
00:11:02 Peter
So that's, uh.
00:11:03 Peter
Big that you don't see those people very often except holidays.
00:11:06 Peter
But then the holidays help reinforce it because you're going to all eat the food you talked about and
everyone waits for you know on the holiday time.
00:11:12 Peter
So if you incorporate that into daily nesw of.
00:11:16 Peter
Here's things that we cook and you get a routine.
00:11:19 Peter
You find out what they like, what they don't like, and then OK.
00:11:21 Peter
Well, you want to help prepare this.
00:11:22 Peter
So now you understand the work and effort that goes into this, right?
00:11:25 Peter
And there's so many lessons you can impart besides just getting the intimate FaceTime with your with
your.
00:11:32 Misty
Children and I think that is the most important thing is having that.
00:11:36 Misty
FaceTime, you said having their hearts knowing what's on their mind.
00:11:40 Misty
The world is so.
00:11:41 Misty
So distracting that sometimes it's hard to really know what your kids are thinking and feeling unless you
have that time with them, and I think that's one of the challenges.
00:11:51 Misty
As they grow older and they're involved in a lot of extracurricular activities, the family can splinter and
go off in different directions.
00:12:02 Misty
And really fighting for that core family time, I think is is important.
00:12:09 Misty
What do you think?
00:12:11 Peter
No, you're 100% agree right? That everybody is busy and everybody is doing something and we've got to
do the day job that keeps the lights on in the fridge full.
00:12:20 Peter
And you know the kids have school and activities and hopefully chores just charged under rate chores
and and everybody can really run in their own lane and just you know you, you don't want your kids to
be tenants in in your apartment building that you call a home, right?
00:12:37 Peter
They don't need to be tenants.
00:12:37 Peter
They you know that there's a lot that goes into that about.
00:12:40 Peter
This is my space and and you know I'm going to do my thing if they come home, dump their bags, grab a
snack, and then you don't see him rest tonight.
00:12:48 Peter
That's not going to help.
00:12:49 Peter
That's your that's going to come back later to bite you like you need to have that time and integrate
each other.
00:12:53 Peter
And I think that's the best time, right?
00:12:55 Peter
I think about.
00:12:57 Peter
Some intimate time I used to have with my father when I was.
00:13:00 Peter
I think it was probably I can't remember high school this time I used to go do like work at his office,
right?
00:13:06 Peter
Or I would go with him.
00:13:07 Peter
Sometimes they would have me like hanging pictures and do stuff in the.
00:13:10 Peter
Office building, right?
00:13:11 Peter
And I remember this so poignantly.
00:13:14 Peter
I remember it would be very my dads and engineers so he got up at like.
00:13:17 Peter
Five and he got to the office like at 6:30 or 7 and I I to this day. I'm not an early person like this is not my
thing. I know you are you love early morning.
00:13:26 Peter
But I have such a profound memories of us being in the car and listening to Paul Harvey and look him
up.
00:13:33 Peter
If you don't know who.
00:13:33 Peter
I'm talking about so just go Google Power.
00:13:36 Peter
But in, but we would hear you hear part of the story at like six 6:00 o'clock in the morning, and then on
the way home from work at 5.
00:13:44 Peter
Paul Harvey did the rest of the story, so he told you part of it in the morning and part of the afternoon.
00:13:48 Peter
The afternoon was the rest of the story, which was always some amazing thing, right?
00:13:51 Peter
But I have such 'cause we would listen.
00:13:53 Peter
To that, and then we would talk about it in the car.
00:13:56 Peter
And so that and then we got to dinner.
00:13:57 Peter
He we may say, hey, what did?
00:14:00 Peter
What was the rest of the story today?
00:14:01 Peter
And we did talk about it as a family, right?
00:14:03 Peter
It's those kind of things that I remember so profoundly they had such an impact.
00:14:07 Peter
There was just simple little things right, but don't ever estimate the memory you can make with a simple
thing with your child.
00:14:14 Misty
Yeah, I think another sort of tradition that your parents passed on to you was a love of reading and I
remember you telling me about, you know.
00:14:25 Misty
Outings for y'all would be everybody would go to the bookstore and find their.
00:14:29 Misty
Books and then even as as our kids were were growing and we were homeschooling.
00:14:35 Misty
Books were never in short supply.
00:14:37 Misty
That love of reading and spending that time together.
00:14:42 Misty
So I don't think it matters.
00:14:44 Misty
If I mean obviously reading is amazing and we want everybody to read 'cause readers are leaders.
00:14:50 Misty
But finding.
00:14:51 Misty
An activity that the whole family can do that everybody can take part in another thing for us was hiking
like we're really big hikers and so even though we have a special needs child, he can still be part of that
hiking where some sports would not work for us.
00:15:07 Misty
So I think finding something that centers your family.
00:15:11 Misty
Where everyone can have an activity they enjoy doing together.
00:15:16 Peter
Yeah, that's that's a really good point.
00:15:18 Peter
Yep, board games maybe don't work all the time and right and let people both games came back.
00:15:22 Peter
The pandemic brought board games.
00:15:23 Peter
Back so, thanks for.
00:15:24 Peter
But yeah, some group activity and it doesn't need to be just vacations.
00:15:29 Peter
You don't need to wait until you take a vacation to learn, but it does.
00:15:32 Peter
Something together find any.
00:15:33 Peter
Kind of activity, but the dinner table will solve that if you can get together.
00:15:38 Peter
And it works just as.
00:15:39 Peter
Well, later on when they're older.
00:15:42 Misty
You know, I think, especially when they get older.
00:15:46 Misty
I remember when our oldest was in college, he lived at home and he would come home really late and
we would always be up waiting for him and how many nights did he lay on the end of our.
00:16:00 Misty
Bed or sit next to the bed and we had conversations about all the things that were happening in school
and the things that were going on.
00:16:07 Misty
I think that just making time for your kids to be available is probably one of the biggest lessons that
we've learned in our parenting and then knowing our kids and creating routines.
00:16:20 Misty
And structure for us to have dialogue but also to pass down traditions and tie heartstrings and and even
family.
00:16:30 Misty
That's been a really important part.
00:16:32 Misty
We did an OK job when the kids were little.
00:16:36 Misty
I remember trying to do Advent and nobody was listening and I was so frustrated, you know.
00:16:41 Misty
So I think when they're little, it's it's not.
00:16:44 Misty
How much of it you get done, but you just keep at it and you're consistent.
00:16:49 Misty
And now our youngest.
00:16:50 Misty
If we haven't had our family devotion, he's like who's reading tonight?
00:16:53 Misty
You know, he comes to us and I think that is is the joy of planting those seeds within your kids and
watching them grow.
00:17:02 Misty
Watching their faith grow.
00:17:04 Peter
Yeah, it's there's so many of those moments to use your phrase like to tie heartstrings, right?
00:17:10 Peter
It can be the mundane.
00:17:11 Peter
I gotta change an air filter, come with me, watch this watch this right?
00:17:14 Peter
How does this work?
00:17:15 Peter
Or like you said the simple outing bookstore?
00:17:18 Peter
Or I guess for girls to be moms and super target I guess would be.
00:17:22 Misty
Super targets a girl best friend you know that.
00:17:23 Peter
Right so.
00:17:25 Peter
So yeah, those are those are and and it it crosses all those matters.
00:17:30 Peter
So even then the activity kind of comes back to you.
00:17:33 Peter
So when they leave.
00:17:34 Peter
When they come back, what do they want to do right when?
00:17:36 Peter
You were a child.
00:17:37 Peter
You thought my.
00:17:38 Peter
Just so boring all they do is have people and they just talk, right?
00:17:40 Peter
You know the kid you want to do something.
00:17:42 Peter
My kids used to call it boring.
00:17:43 Peter
They didn't even say boring greatly or that's so boring.
00:17:46 Peter
Then you get older and you realize it's all about the conversation and then the sweetness is when your
kids leave and they come back and they want to just sit at the table and do what they just want to sit
and talk, right?
00:17:56 Peter
That's that's an amazing thing.
00:17:58 Peter
But it all starts back when they're kids, because that becomes the place, not of combating out of strife
and not of.
00:18:04 Peter
Acrimony or malice.
00:18:05 Peter
It becomes the place of fun, enjoy, and conversations and memory building and history, and all those
tremendous things that that it really can impress upon on the children.
00:18:18 Misty
I feel like that's a little bit of a lost art today.
00:18:20 Misty
You know, we've always had relatives around the table.
00:18:23 Misty
Your mom was a great historian and told all the family stories, right?
00:18:28 Misty
And I.
00:18:29 Misty
The same thing in my house with, you know, sitting around with my extended family just listening to all
of the tales of yesteryear.
00:18:38 Misty
I feel like we've lost a little bit of that, and I don't feel like that happens as much now in our microwave
on the GO Paper Plate Society.
00:18:48 Peter
Well, I mean, yeah, that's I.
00:18:51 Peter
I would definitely say it's a future episode to talk about phones and screens and and computers and
television.
00:18:59 Peter
That all sort of detract from you know that that time.
00:19:04 Peter
Time, but yeah, that's definitely definitely a soapbox.
00:19:08 Peter
I'd be happy to climb.
00:19:09 Peter
Up on in.
00:19:10 Peter
In spouse, but it's just take the joy.
00:19:13 Peter
Take the time you know it.
00:19:15 Peter
It goes so quick you know you always hear older people.
00:19:17 Peter
I'm not older obviously, but yeah, shake your head but it does go by quick because.
00:19:24 Peter
You know life happens when you're doing other stuff.
00:19:26 Peter
That's that's a really true saying, right?
00:19:28 Peter
Like you're just trying to get everything going, and it's all happening.
00:19:30 Peter
So take the time to savor that.
00:19:33 Peter
Take the time.
00:19:35 Peter
To make these things happen, yes, the diapers have to be changed and the laundry keeps growing and
the sink is full of dishes.
00:19:41 Peter
But it's they still stop and take time.
00:19:45 Peter
To be with your family, it's important.
00:19:47 Peter
'cause you don't get it back.
00:19:49 Misty
That's right, so how?
00:19:50 Misty
Does one balance family and the responsibilities of work without you know?
00:20:00 Misty
Working too much and ignoring the family.
00:20:03 Misty
Or you know, spending too much time paying attention to what's happening in the home and it you
know, not getting the job done.
00:20:10 Misty
So where is that fine line for you as the leader in our home?
00:20:18 Peter
So don't be the hero right?
00:20:20 Peter
Too many parents hero out as they say, right?
00:20:22 Peter
You just take it.
00:20:23 Peter
All moms do this, especially where they just take it all and it gets all on them and they don't.
00:20:28 Peter
They don't incorporate or stop or push back or ask for help, right?
00:20:32 Peter
They just kind of hero hero of the game.
00:20:34 Peter
That just leads to burnout and and strife and problems.
00:20:38 Peter
Right same way for fathers.
00:20:39 Peter
If they're doing that where they're just like, well, I got to earn for my family.
00:20:42 Peter
I got to work.
00:20:42 Peter
I got to work.
00:20:42 Peter
I got to work well.
00:20:44 Peter
No, it's no good when you're not there, right?
00:20:46 Peter
But then nobody likes that.
00:20:48 Peter
I think the balance starts in the middle with faith like your.
00:20:52 Peter
This is something you're amazing at.
00:20:53 Peter
Start your day in the world.
00:20:56 Peter
And then order the rest of your day right?
00:20:59 Peter
If you can execute against that all the time, then he will order your day for you.
00:21:04 Peter
He will help execute on what you have to.
00:21:06 Peter
Execute on if that doesn't happen if you're not focusing on him first, then family than others in you right,
and whatever the order is beyond that.
00:21:16 Peter
It has to start with him first.
00:21:18 Misty
Absolutely it has to start with him first, and and then everything else kind of flows out from that.
00:21:25 Misty
I remember watching a speech back in speech in the debate and this girl did a speech about, you know,
putting the big rocks in the bucket 1st and once you put those.
00:21:35 Misty
Rocks in then you've got room for all the little little pebbles you know to flow in.
00:21:40 Misty
And So what is most important, you know, God?
00:21:44 Misty
Good family and then we have to survive, so we need to work or we don't eat.
00:21:49 Misty
But when when we find ourselves, you know just kind of one of the ways that my boss described it to
me as as a young worker.
00:21:59 Misty
As a young mom trying to balance the stress of managing.
00:22:04 Misty
A home and being a wife and having a child and working and commuting and all of the things and the
stress that goes along with that.
00:22:13 Misty
She said your life is a wheel and you need to keep each one of those areas.
00:22:18 Misty
You have to focus and it has to be.
00:22:21 Misty
Equally distributed because you think about like spokes on a wheel and if one area is larger than the
other areas then the wheel gets wobbly and it kind of goes off track.
00:22:33 Peter
Yeah, that's right, that's probably right.
00:22:35 Misty
So it's it's about faith.
00:22:38 Misty
But it's also about balance.
00:22:40 Peter
Yeah, that's probably the key, right? Is the balance and it's that's tricky. I mean, you're not gonna get
that answer in 25 minutes, but it just takes time and work and do all the things kind of we talked about
like.
00:22:52 Peter
We've said this before.
00:22:53 Peter
Nothing good, worthwhile is easy, family, marriage, faith.
00:22:59 Peter
All these things take work.
00:23:01 Peter
But there's so much joy even in the labor.
00:23:05 Peter
There's joy in the work because the outcome is tremendous, right?
00:23:08 Peter
There's no joy that you can find.
00:23:11 Peter
Outside of well, this side of the veil that you're going to find with the faces of your children and the face
of your spouse.
00:23:19 Peter
And when that's well ordered and organized as God intended.
00:23:23 Peter
It's the best choice you're going to get at this side.
00:23:26 Misty
Yeah, so I just want to leave the audience today with just some encouragement to find time to gather
your people get around the table, use that to, you know, read the Bible together as a family, or talk
about the day's events, know what's going on in your children hearts.
00:23:46 Misty
And find other opportunities to tie heartstrings.
00:23:50 Misty
Whether you're in the kitchen, cooking, you're at the bookstore, or if you're on the ballfield, do the thing
that works for your family and then try to keep it all in.
00:24:00 Misty
Balance with your work and your home life, but Peter you had it right by Faith comes first and
everything else flows out from that.
00:24:09 Peter
Amen.
00:24:10 Misty
Amen, well until next week we will see you soon.
