Quality Time

Yesterday was a bustling day for my family. I had several meetings at the office and Lori also had a meeting at Lake Hart. In addition, she was making preparations for Brennan's sixth birthday today. As has been our custom since getting married, Lori and I like to have a weekly "date night" where we're able to go out at least once a week and just spend some time together. The plan for last night was for us to go out to a Chinese restaurant that Lori had chosen. Of course, things seldom work out as we have planned...

I was late getting home since I was at the downtown office and left later than I normally do. I barely got home before Lori had time to pick up our babysitter, Amanda. On the way to pickup Amanda, Lori had to pick something up that was forgotten at a friends house earlier in the day. This probably wouldn't have been a big deal, but Amanda's house can be difficult to find and Lori ended up getting lost on the way. So, finally at about 7:30, Lori got back and we were able to go out for our "relaxing" dinner after our not so relaxing day.

Because of the lateness of the hour (and because I hadn't had lunch), I was pretty hungry. We decided to forgo the Chinese place that was about 25 minutes away and go to a closer restaurant that we had a coupon for. After much searching, we finally found the place that the restaurant was supposed to be. There was a sign and everything! We were like, "Yeah, we found it and it's only 8:15!" But, alas, the restaurant had been shut down (gotta remember to call ahead for new places -- this isn't the first time this has happened to us :)

So, being the big spender that I am and wanting to treat my wife well, I decided on the most logical place that I could think of -- Taco Bell! And over chalupas and nachos, we shared about our day and how we're doing in life. And you know what, that was just fine with me. I really didn't care what we were doing as long as I was getting to hang with Lori. Sure, it's nice to do some real creative things sometimes or do things that are really special, but mostly, I just like to spend time with my wife. We don't really have to "do anything" for it to be fun. Just being in her presence is enough for me because I love her more than any other human being.

You know what? I think our relationship with God is very similar. I think God appreciates when we dress up nice to go to church or make a big deal to attend a conference, but my hunch is that He mostly just likes to hang with us. He enjoys when we take time out of a busy day to get away from other distractions and just spend some time talking with him. Or to just spend some time reading His love letter to us (the Bible) and learning more about Him. Just as Lori and I set a weekly time to be alone and spend time together, I think it's even more important for us to prioritize our regular times of meeting with God. And no matter what we're doing, if it's with our heavenly Father, I think we can consider it quality time.