Set Priorities
June 2, 2023
If things aren’t right at home, you won’t be affective at work over the long haul. If you’re at odds with your family, you set a poor example of what God intends for the home. Put your family ahead of your work.
- Go home each day at a appropriate time. Be dependable. Don’t exploit your family with frequent last-minute emergencies.
- Give your best concentration at home. Be there in body and spirit. Work hard at the office and dedicate yourself to your family at home.
- Get away occasionally with your mate, if just for a few hours. Escape interruptions and concentrate on those you love most.
- Give access to your family. I let my wife and children know they can phone me or walk into my office anytime. They seldom take advantage of that, but I think it helps them know they’re special to me.
- Be there when your mate or children are involved in important activities. Rearrange your schedule if possible so you can be at concerts, games, or award banquets.
- Be real. Be the same person at home that you are at work. Be as patient, kind and understanding with them as you are with the people at work. They deserve it more.
Taken from monthly newsletter of Assumption Greek Orthodox Church in Town & Country, Missouri.
By: Rev Andrew J Demotses The saints of our faith have observed that God is a purposeful farmer who seeks an abundant harvest of spiritual fruit from each of us. He expects that we will do more than just consider ourselves Christians, but will act on our faith in a way that will make the presence of Christ real not only in our own lives, but in the lives of others. Scripture warns us that the Lord is like the farmer of Palestine, where land is precious and there is no room for a tree that does not bear fruit. “The axe is ready to cut down the trees at the roots; every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown in the fire.” (Matt. 3:10). As if to emphasize this truth, Jesus cursed the barren fig tree, and it withered at once. (Matt. 21:18-19). Paradoxically, it is oftentimes in the experience of pain and suffering that we are most prepared to bear an abundant harvest of spiritual fruit. Good times tend to make us complacent and self-satisfied. Sorrow, tribulation, ill health, and disappointment, however, have a way of stimulating us to re-order our priorities and help us to gain perspective and maturity. I have found that it is through my own personal suffering that I have gained my greatest compassion and understanding for others. Jesus was perhaps helping us to understand this when he said, “A grain of wheat remains no more than a single grain unless it is dropped into the ground and dies. If it does die, it produces many grains.” (Jn. 12:24). As a young man, I once saw a wise neighbor severely prune a mature apple tree that bore sparse fruit. The next year, with far fewer branches newly exposed to sunlight, the tree produced an abundant harvest. In this same way, we too can produce spiritual fruitfulness from the pruning shears of our own affliction. From this perspective, the experience of pain is not perceived as meaningless punishment, but rather as an opportunity for growth. While we do not seek suffering in our life, we nonetheless accept it, together with all other things, as God’s saving opportunity to help us live so that hopefully as people get to know us, they will get to know Christ as well.
Before midnight on Saturday evening, the Odes of Lamentation of the previous day
It is one of the most beloved services in the Orthodox Church.
Holy Week is the sacred time during which . .
Presentation of Our Lord & Savior Jesus Christ into the Temple
Demetrios was a native of the city of Thessaloniki
The Ever-Virgin Mary is celebrated on September 8 each year
In the liturgical observances of Good Friday the Church views the Crucifixion
Does God come first in my giving?
Anyone who reads the New Testament seriously is almost always surprised
