SAFEGUARD #7
HAVING FUN & CONNECTING

My wife is the fun instigator in our family! My default is to jump in on the fun that’s planned, but if I’m honest, I’m not great at creating it in our family. I’m a work in progress in this area for sure. And while it may not be my default, having fun is a value I’ve learned to love and embrace. Joy and laughter are good medicine, which means they heal or keep something healthy in the first place. Laughter and joy in your marriage are a massive safeguard. You may have heard the phrase, those who play together stay together. And it’s for these reasons mentioned in this verse. Being cheerful sends life into your marriage. When was the last time you had a good laugh together?

Notice the second half of that verse, a crushed spirit dries up the bones, and for this plan's purposes, a crushed spirit dries up the marriage. When we’ve removed fun from our lives, we get dried up and are no longer able to nourish the bones of our marriage. Having a fun and full-of-life kind of marriage isn’t an accident; it’s intentional. We create a bond with those we’re always having fun with. This is a powerful tool in marriage, friendships, co-workers, and our kids. Fun should be applied to all relationships, but be mindful that if you’re all fun and play at work, but a lame lump of coal at home, then you’ll start drying up what’s at home and feeding the other areas of your life, which in extreme cases could lead to affairs and other emotional or sexual detachments and attachments.

Honor the Sabbath

This day feels like excessive use of the word fun, even for me, but let’s look a little deeper; rest and rhythm aren’t just about epic vacations. It’s about trusting God and honoring how He designed us. He worked six days and then rested, and God calls us to do the same.

“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work,” Exodus 20:8-11 NIV

Invite God’s blessing and rest into your life. Work hard, go all-in with all that God gives you and your family to do, but resist the urge to keep yourself so busy you can’t slow down, trust and honor God, and just rest. There will always be another task you need to complete; there will always be a reason to spend a little more time on a work project. This is why resting and having fun is also about trust—trusting God’s ability to do more with six days than you can with seven. Trusting that God is working with you in your marriage to fill in gaps and bring health and strength as you rest in Him.