Family Adjustments

Recently my husband completed a position he held in our church for the last 5 years. My husband served in a leadership position in our church. This position required endless hours of service. He would leave early Sunday mornings for meetings, and come home late afternoon. 

My sons really don’t even remember having their dad sit in the church pew with them. Today was the first Sunday in over 5 years that we all sat together, and it was weird. 

The boys were a little extra rowdy. And I felt a little weird myself. 

Today was an adjustment. For all of us. 

If you think about a car and the adjustments you can make with the seats, the steering wheel, etc. All of those “adjustments” are designed to optimize comfort and safety in a vehicle. 

If you are too far away from the steering wheel you become unsafe because you can’t reach the gas or brake pedal. 

If you're too close to the steering wheel it becomes uncomfortable and you might experience pains after time. 

So, that being said, the same is true for adjustments in a family. Whether it’s a shift in responsibilities, a change in how much time a family member is available or a change in a dynamic.

All of these adjustments are aligned with this idea of improving life through changes of comfort and safety (physically, and emotionally). 

For example, a mother may decide to make changes to her work schedule for the benefit of improving her family's quality of life. She may decide to be around more in the evenings to take the physical and emotional weight off of her husband (or herself). 

Or a father may decide to go overseas for work for an opportunity to increase his salary for an increase of financial comfort for his family. 

In a family we are constantly making adjustments. Down to simple things like who takes out the garbage. Through this process we are making these tiny changes to optimize our efficiency, abilities, power, and comfort just as we would make arrangements for a vehicle. 

Think of your family unit as a vehicle. There are plenty of squeaks, weak spots and even broken parts. We continue to fine tune each and every spot. We see where there is too much pressure and how we can resolve it. We look at our gas mileage once in a while and see we aren’t operating as efficiently as we could be. And sometimes the car just isn't worth fixing. (I’ll let you make your own assumptions with that) 

But all in all adjustments are essential. If we don’t make these shifts, we aren’t taking care of ourselves and our family. We aren’t taking the time to analyze where we are and what is in the best interest of our family. 

Adjustments can be uncomfortable and weird. 

An adjustment tells us that something was a bit “off”. Adjustments can come after huge, devastating changes to our lives too. Losing a loved one, losing a job, a divorce etc. 

But an adjustment serves as an opportunity to fine tune ourselves. It gives us the opportunity to decide what parts are in full working order and what small changes need to be made. 

In life we will make constant changes, we will operate in all different sorts of ways, always trying to find that “perfect” working order. Where we are firing at our highest capacity, serving in a way of efficiency and purpose. 

Take note, what adjustments need to be made in your life? What needs a second look, a change, an alignment? Know that there is discomfort that will come when we need an adjustment, and after the adjustment. But it’s a lot harder when we don’t make the adjustment and we break. Alright Momma, let us get good at feeling uncomfortable, make the adjustments now so you can fire on all cylinders. Let’s Go!