4 Ways to Make Every Weekend Memorable for Your Family
[NOTE: This week’s guest post comes to us from David Dixon. To learn more about David, check out his bio after today’s post.]
In 1981, the band Loverboy released a song entitled “Working for the Weekend.” It’s a catchy little ditty, but the sentiment of the song is a worldly concept that should not apply to Christians. In reference to early Christians who had given certain days of the year greater significance of holiness than other days, Paul gave the instruction that every individual should be “fully persuaded in his own mind” (Rom. 14:5 KJV). That is, we are permitted to assign a holiness value to individual days, but we had better be completely confident in the righteousness of our evaluations because “he who doubts is condemned” (Rom. 14:23 NKJV).
In our world today, it seems that most people have given the period from Friday afternoon at 5 pm to Sunday night around midnight a different value in their lives than the rest of the week. Many people today truly are working for the weekend. One of Paul’s points in Romans 14 is that every Christian has opportunities to live and share the Gospel every day of the week. Our behavior as Christians should not change from day to day, even Sundays! And yet, the way our economy is structured, weekends are generally our “free time.” We spend more quality time with our families on the weekends than we are able to spend during the “work week.” So here are four suggestions for maximizing those precious moments when the whole family unit is together.
1. Plan everything around Sundays.
Our children need to see that in our lives nothing is more important than serving God. No matter if we are going out of town for a couple of days, or if we plan to spend a quiet weekend at home, our activities must be scheduled around worship. Not because we act, think, or speak differently on Sunday than any other day, but because we live and work Monday through Saturday looking forward to with great anticipation the day that we get to assemble with other saints for the purpose of praising God. Teach your children to enjoy worship!
2. Keep it clean.
We live in Florida, and Florida residents get a discount to some of the vacation destinations in Orlando. We were given season passes to Sea World as a gift, and we can make the trip and return home in a single day. Our kids love the whales and dolphins and penguins. Obviously, not everyone who visits Sea World professes to be a Christian. The majority of the people there do not wear enough clothes. As a preacher, I consider myself somewhat of an amateur sociologist; I observe people any time we are in a public place. At Sea World, it is instantly recognizable when someone is trying to be modest. Knee length shorts, full-length pants or skirts, and shirts that cover the shoulder are the exception at Sea World, and when a family is wearing that type of clothing, their behavior is notable. Sure, they are hot and sweaty, but they are modest! Whether we are working in the yard as a family or headed to the lake for some fishing, we can be modest and still have fun! I remember my parents emphasizing modesty any time we went for a family outing to a public place, and I sincerely appreciate it now. I don’t think those trips would have been any more fun or memorable if we had been dressed like everyone else.
3. Memorable does not have to mean expensive.
Week long vacations are expensive. That is why people usually only take one or two a year. I recently heard of a financial institution offering “vacation loans.” Folks, if we have to take out a loan to pay for a vacation, maybe we need to reconsider the intensity of our desire to be entertained. My family has not taken a full week-long vacation since before our children were born (unless you include “church camp,” which is the best use of vacation time, in my opinion), but we have had some very memorable weekend trips. Last year, we bought a four-man tent, and we scheduled one trip a month to different state parks around the state of Georgia. We experienced cold, heat, rain, shine, bugs, coyotes, and crickets. My kids weren’t always comfortable, but the experience was always memorable. And it was relatively inexpensive. Since moving to Florida and having a pregnant wife in the summer, we have not picked this tradition back up, but we will. Planning a trip or big event every weekend is taxing and draining, both physically and financially. One outing a month creates a repeatability your children can look forward to and prepare for, and it also allows for some downtime in which your kids can develop their own interests. Local community events, hiking or biking trails, or amateur sporting events can be wonderful inexpensive opportunities to make lifelong memories.
4. Insist on participation.
My son does not love camping, but my three-year-old daughter does. My daughter cannot operate a video game controller yet, but we spend family time playing Rock Band on occasion because her brother loves video games. As children become teens, they may have a tendency to try to distance themselves from the family unit. Parents are no longer cool. Regardless of how much they may resist, insist on the whole family participating in events that may not interest every member. As they reach adulthood the lesson will sink in: serving others can bring the greatest satisfaction that life can offer.
Our time with our children races away from us. Weekends are the times when we can embrace one another with all our quirks, and embrace God with all His qualities. Whatever you do, and wherever you go, let God be the Pilot and Navigator. When faithfulness and righteousness are our desires, every weekend can be memorable!
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David Dixon is the preacher for the Wesconnett Church of Christ in Jacksonville, FL. He is married to Rachel and they have two children, Micah and Sarah, with Asher expected to arrive by September.
Photo background credit: OakleyOriginals on Creative Commons
