Operation Christmas Child – Shoebox Collection Week is Here!

5 Reasons to Invest in Your Family

5 Reasons to Invest in Your Family

When I was a child, I remember my mother being able to invest a great amount of her time into my sisters and me. Despite my mother working a full-time job, taking care of the house, and having dinner on the table every night, she still always made sure she had time to invest in my sisters and my development. As we got older, there was a shift to happen as my mom had to take on more of a workload and was facing heart disease. Now that my mother has passed, I wish I could have had more time with her. I want her to be able to see where I am now and tell her the things that I have learned.

For me, this will never be able to happen on this side of Heaven. However, you can be proactive and start investing more time with your family. Whether you are a mom, a dad, a daughter, a son, a husband, or a wife, know that time is in your hands. Not a day needs to be wasted because you don’t know when the last day will be. As grim and depressing as this may sound, it is true.

All of us will face death one day. This is something that none of us can escape. The Bible tells us, “Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment” (Hebrews 9:27). As this Bible verse tells us, all of us will die and then face judgment. Our time is limited on earth, and we would be wise to make every day count.

I never would have thought my mom would pass away before I turned nineteen years old, but this is what happened. My mother was a fighter, and she was strong, but her heart had been under too much pressure for all those years. To see your mother in a hospital bed is something I wish nobody had to see. It is hard to recover from and often creeps into your mind.

Before time is out with a loved one, start spending time with them. Since my mother passed, I have been more intentional about taking time to spend with loved ones. Sometimes, they don’t see it as important as I do, but I try to make every effort to invest in their lives. As Christians, we know that life doesn’t end when we take our last breath; however, it is still important to celebrate each day.

Photo credit: ©GettyImages/monkeybusinessimages
  • Mom with adult daughter walking on the beach.

    1. Build Stronger Relationships

    Building stronger relationships is one reason to invest more time with your family. Without having a solid relationship with each family member, you will quickly find that you will have a broken family. Many people think broken families are only those who go through divorce, but this isn’t true. If you don’t have a strong relationship with your family, it can feel at times that you don’t even know them.

    This can be painful and cause you to distance yourself from your loved ones. In order to combat this, it will be beneficial to start being intentional with how you spend your time. Ask each family member to do something with you throughout the week. This could be having a phone call with mom, going hiking with dad, or taking your kids to a new children’s museum. All of these things can help you cultivate a stronger relationship with your family.

    If you are married and have a family, try not to forget your own mom, dad, and siblings. It can be hard to juggle all the responsibilities of family life, but you will regret it in the long run if you never invest any time into their lives. Keeping things surface level might be best if you have a rocky relationship with your parents. However, you might consider trying to build ties again if you are up to it.

    The decision is ultimately up to you. If you do not feel that building a stronger relationship is something you can do right now, start little by little. Maybe this could be reaching out to your mom and dad once a month or sending them a letter. Even if they don’t return the favor, know that you are doing all you can.

    Photo credit: ©Getty Images/Dean Mitchell
  • Dad disciplining his daughter

    2. Help Cultivate a Positive Self-Image

    Helping cultivate a positive self-image is another reason to invest more time with your family. If you are a mom or a dad, this is especially true. Your children are always looking up to you, soaking in every word you are saying, and they desperately want to please you. Instead of putting them down or making them feel bitter, start building them up and encouraging them (Colossians 3:21). Building them up rather than tearing them down will start causing them to develop a healthy self-image.

    When I was a child, I wanted my mom and dad to think that I was a good kid, smart, and able to excel. My sisters are both extremely talented in their own ways, which made me become very competitive. I could never do anything as well as they could do. This caused me to feel bad about myself, and I started developing the thought process of “I’m not good enough.”

    As much as my parents tried their best, they weren’t the best at emotional support. Rather than telling me I was good at other things, I was always seen as a work in progress. I loved drawing and playing musical instruments, but when I wasn’t as good as my siblings, I slowly gave up these hobbies. Since I was told that my art and music weren’t good, they became reminders that I wasn’t good enough.

    These feelings have shown up over the course of my adult life, but they don’t hold as strong as hold on me anymore. I can recognize and feel them, yet they do not completely destroy me anymore. However, if my parents had been more intentional about spending time with me, telling me that I was enough, and helping me cultivate a positive self-image, I could have saved a lot of time, energy, and development of emotional troubles. Be there for your kids and truly listen to them, extend your love, and remind them they are good enough just as they are.

    Photo Credit: ©iStock/Getty Images Plus/Inside Creative House

  • dad and teen son chatting and smiling

    3. To Truly Know Your Family

    A third reason to invest more time with your family is to truly get to know your family. With any loved one, you cannot get to know them unless you are spending time with them. None of us will be able to know someone unless we are actively in communication with them, being present with them, and being intentional about spending quality time with them. You might be surprised how much you will learn about your family members when you start investing more time in their lives.

    Even if you are newly married and think you know everything about your spouse, there is still more to learn. Spend some time with your spouse and invest in quality time. Sitting beside each other on the couch and scrolling your phones does not count as quality time. Choose to go out instead to eat at a special location, go outside for a walk, or sit with each other undistracted.

    In the same way, if you are a parent, truly get to know your kids. While getting kids to sit still for any period can be hard, try to do an activity with them. Play in the sandbox, do finger paint, or go for a walk in the afternoon with them. Just by having this personal time with you, they will start opening up to you. You might think that you know everything about your kids, but it might be that they are not telling you everything. By choosing to invest more time into their lives, they will take notice and start wanting you to be more involved in their life as well.

    Photo credit: ©GettyImages/Paperkites

  • Family hiking

    4. Opportunity to Experience New Things Together

    A fourth reason to invest more time with your family is that it allows you to experience new things together. In the past, many of my friends used to go on family camping trips. Neither of my parents was keen on camping, so I never went camping, but I used to wonder how fun it would be to sleep in tents, explore the great outdoors, and just have uninterrupted time with my family. If you want to invest more time with your family, consider going on a trip or trying to experience something new together.

    When we think of a new experience, we often think of going on a vacation. Sadly, vacations can get quite expensive and not everyone has the money to go on one. My family was no exception as we rarely went on vacation. However, you can still experience new things with your family by going to a new park, seeing a new movie, or doing a craft together. Even if these things might sound mundane to you, your children won’t view them as mundane.

    Instead, it will be viewed as something fun to do with their parents. Never underestimate how much your kids want to spend time with you. Even just going out for a lunch date with your daughter could give her quality time with you. Think about a few new experiences to do with your family and see how much your bonds will grow. Investing in more time with your family will help your family grow more connected and stronger.

    Photo Credit: ©iStock/Getty Images Plus/Halfpoint
  • adult son hugging dad fathers day forgiveness

    5. You Never Know When Your Last Day with Them Will Be

    A final reason to invest more time with your family is that you never know when your last day with them will be. As mentioned earlier, I lost my mom when I was very young. There are many things that she will never get to see me do. She never saw me drive my own car, graduate college, or start my first professional job. It is depressing to think about, yet it is a motivating factor to cherish each day with my loved ones who are alive.

    We all need to take this to heart. Our loved ones could be here today and gone tomorrow. Even if your loved ones are young, there is no guarantee that they will be here every day for the rest of your life. Choose to fully invest time with your loved ones, and you will not regret it. Be present with them, listen to what they say, and provide support. Your loved ones will notice this and know they are loved.

    Providing a place to live and food on the table is not enough for your loved ones to know that they are truly cared about. If you are a parent, you need to emotionally invest in your children’s lives, too. If you have trouble understanding emotions or are not very empathic, try to improve in this area. Be there for your kids and validate their emotions. Don’t treat them as too emotional or a “crybaby.”

    Your kids need you. They don’t need someone who is going to make them feel bad about their feelings. Your kids, spouse, and parents need you to be emotionally available for them. Start investing more time with your family today. Cherish each day you have with them, and trust God with the rest. We never know when our last day on earth will be, nor do we know when our loved ones will take their final breath, but we can choose to live every day like it is our last.

    There are many reasons to invest more time with your family. It builds stronger relationships and helps cultivate a positive self-image. You truly get to know your family and experience new things together. And, finally, you never know when your last day with them will be.

    Photo credit: ©GettyImages/seb_ra

    Vivian Bricker author bio photoVivian Bricker loves Jesus, studying the Word of God, and helping others in their walk with Christ. She has earned a Bachelor of Arts and Master's degree in Christian Ministry with a deep academic emphasis in theology. Her favorite things to do are spending time with her family and friends, reading, and spending time outside. When she is not writing, she is embarking on other adventures.