Quality Time With My Debit Card

Blessed is the man who listens to me, watching daily at my doors, waiting at my doorway. For whoever finds me finds life and receives favor from the LORD. Proverbs 8:34-35 (NIV)

When oldest son made a quick visit home to celebrate Thanksgiving, he was only here for forty eight hours. Twenty four of those he slept. I know that it is part of the young male routine to sleep for long periods of time and my son is no exception. How he can sleep for fifteen hours straight, I don’t know, but that is what he did the first day at home. He ate three meals with us so that was about six hours of conversation. We went to church so we were together another hour and a half. He watched television for a few hours. The remaining time, he wanted to shop. I don’t know where he got the shopping gene as neither my husband nor I enjoy it. We go into a store to get only what we need and come back out as soon as possible. In the contrast, my child loves to shop as long as he is spending my money. He likes brand names and gadgets, but on a college budget doesn’t have much extra to buy those kinds of things. On Sunday, he suggested we go shopping, but I was worn out. After working an extra twenty hours last week with History Fair, then, working all day Saturday getting ready for the dinner, I had visions of spending my afternoon horizontal. I put him off and settled onto the couch. He went up to his room quietly. Youngest son came down and said his brother was disappointed. That he wanted to spend some quality time with me. Yeah, right, I thought. He doesn’t want quality time with me; he wants quality time with my debit card. Nevertheless, hopeful that it might be true, I got dressed, made husband get dressed, and the four of us went shopping. We did enjoy our time together, the boys laughed and got along, and we had fun watching them. The whole while, my debit card got a workout, and oldest son had a heavier bag when he got back on the plane to leave. We did have some quality time, but I am not convinced that I wasn’t buying it with gifts. I started thinking about my relationship with God. Why do I desire to spend time with Him? Is it so He will give me things? Do I only go to Him when I or someone I love is in need? Or do I want to spend time with Him because I love Him and He loves me? These verses remind me that even more important than what He favors me with is the time that I spend with Him. That is the greatest blessing of all. Think about it! The Creator of the Universe, the Almighty, All Powerful God wants a relationship with you! Is there anything more amazing than that? He gives life more abundantly to all who seek Him. Forget about your shopping list. Instead, spend some quality time with Your Savior.