Our efforts will prevent our lives from getting into a rut.....

Rut Busters....

Come, my beloved, let us go out into the country... . There I will give you my love. Song of Solomon 7:11-12 I don't know what "routine" means to you, but this was ours when the kids were still at home: Up before sunrise, have a few words together, maybe enjoy a little breakfast or a cup of coffee, exchange a kiss on the cheek and it's goodbye for the day. I take kids to school and then drive on to the office, while Barbara stays home to get busy with her own work. She deals with endless issues involving the children--school, laundry, chores, errands, doctors and conflicts. Meanwhile, I juggle budgets and meetings and problem solving all day long. Our paths cross again around 6 P.M., after both of us have emptied about 90 percent of our tanks. We take a glance at the news, eat dinner, flip through the mail, pay some bills, clean up the dishes, help with school work. Then an hour of getting the kids to bed. Barbara tries to get in some reading before sleep overtakes her. That's the drill. But there is no imagination in that. I'm not saying that a typical day can routinely accommodate wild swings of adventure, but I'll tell you this (if you haven't noticed already): A routine is just a few letters away from being shortened to a rut. A rut you will never escape unless you make a deliberate effort to do so. And I guarantee that your "rut" will never be on the same page as "romance" in your marital dictionary. When the TV show Desperate Housewives first began its iconic rise into our national awareness, Newsweek did a feature article on the phenomenon. I remember one of the women who was interviewed lamenting, "Don't you remember the time when he kissed you with a kiss that launched a thousand kisses?" Is there ever room for that in the middle of your routine? Discuss Ready to spice up the routine? How would you do it if you could? (You can, you know.) Pray Ask the Creator for a delightful dose of His creativity to give you a break from the routine.