TRANSCRIPT:

Welcome to the ‘Five Minute Family’ brought to you by Clear View Retreat, a Christ-centered family retreat ministry. Please join us as we explore various facets of family life during this family-sized radio devotion. You can check out more information about CVR at clearviewretreat.org.

Alright, let’s dive in.

Ah, hello Five Minute Families! How are you doing today? This week is Valentine’s Day. Now, many of you are probably thinking, “oh, great, another ‘spend your money’ made-up greed day. History shows us that February has long been celebrated as the month of romance. The legend of St Valentine isn’t clear, but the truth of our Lord is. Never forget that Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice of love for us, and when we step up for those He has placed in our lives, we honor our very relational and loving God.

Here we would like to offer five five-minute ideas for your Valentine’s Day celebration.

1. Turn on your wedding song and dance in the living room. Yes, embarrass those teens. Yes, let the littles wait a few minutes for their treat. The goal here is to give each other undivided attention. Maybe you are not a dancer. You can sit and hold his or her hand for the length of the song. Take this time to think back on your wedding day or the first time you saw your spouse and share a great memory and how they made you feel. It’s okay to get a little cheesy here, get a little romantic – it’s about building up that other person, so speak to their heart.

2. Ya gotta eat breakfast, right? Take two minutes to write your favorite thing about your spouse on a blank sheet of paper, draw a flower, and take a tray – a cookie tray if you have to – and put breakfast on the tray and carry it upstairs. Simply say, “I love you.” Five minutes of time on your part and hours of warmth in your spouse’s heart. If you are including the kids, make sure you take time to intentionally reach out to your spouse, express your love and appreciation for him or her, not as a parent but as a unique and wonderful individual in your life.

3. Valentine’s is a Friday this year. Take an extra five minutes at the end of dinner, even if it has to be at home with all the kids around because money is tight. Take out a dessert of any type that you already have on hand (extra points if you stop by the store on the way home and grab her favorite candy bar – hint hint) Basically, anything that your spouse loves, and as you present it to him or her share five things that you are thankful for that he or she does.

4. Maybe you guys are in the thick of the younger years which can be so physically exhausting. Or, maybe you are busy trying to keep up with the grandkids. Whatever stage of life and despite whatever routine patterns you have developed… Take five minutes to do a chore that your spouse typically does. A word of caution here, please do not choose the chore you argue the most about or do a chore that you think he or she doesn’t do fast enough to prove how little time it takes. In the overall scheme of life, five minutes does not seem like that much time. But, at different ages and stages in life, five minutes can be overwhelming. Have you ever left a toddler alone for five minutes? Well, then, you know that you may have just bought yourself 5 hours of clean up and repair work if you have done so. Five minutes is relative, and we know that five minutes of intentional relating is the difference between striving and thriving. So, prayerfully and LOVINGLY choose a chore that will bless your spouse, not make him or her feel belittled or inadequate.

5. One final idea … maybe give your spouse a five-minute pass to use this weekend (it could be a five-hour or five-day pass – depending where you are in life). Give them the ability to invest in self-care so that he or she is better able to meet the needs of the family at times when they must.

Remember, we love because God first loved us. We love because the Creator of the universe is love. We humans might need a prompting every day to remember to love well, and we often need a prompting to love well on special days that have been warped by human greed, but God lavishes His love, and as His people we need to get into the habit to love intentionally every day – to go above and beyond on some days.

John 13:35 tells us the world will know we are Christ’s disciples by how we love one another. Will you take five minutes to love your spouse? The world is watching.

Thank you again for joining us for the Five Minute Family devotional. May God bless your relationships.