"More Distractions" by Dr. Kim

Last time I began talking about distractions and got focused on kids as a distraction.  Let me mention some other distractions that I see in marriage.  Here is a partial list: work, volunteering, church, sports, friends, alcohol abuse, drug abuse. pornography, money, shopping, working out - you get the idea.  Distractions can be almost anything in our lives.  As you look at my list you might say to yourself that all these are not bad.  I totally agree with you.  They become bad and dangerous when they take the focus off of our marriages and onto them at the expense of our marriages. Here is an example.   Church is great but if I spend all my time there and it keeps me from spending time with Nancy, my marriage will suffer.  The same is true with any of the other things on our lists.  Some of them are obviously not good for us or our marriages.  They are dangerous and can destroy marriages but I sometimes think that the most dangerous ones are the ones we would put on our ‘good things’  in our lives list.  They can deceive us because they are good and we may even be helping others. But we can never let them take away from our marriages.  As you look at the distractions in your lives and think about how they are affecting your marriage, let me give you one more thought.  Anytime you are saying ‘yes’ to something, you are saying ‘no’ to something else.  It is far to easy for our ‘no’s’ to be to our marriages.