Thanks to Laura Fuhrman for sharing their work on Unsplash.
My wife loves to work on scrapbooks. She’s spent the better part of the recent summer months working on updating the scrapbooks for each of our three grown sons. I wander into her back office from time to time, which these days is our enclosed back porch.
As I flip through the pages of these scrapbooks, a lifetime of memories come flooding back. Those books’ photos remind me of family vacations, milestone events, and the different stages of our lives as we raised a family. I also remember the simple, silly memories of the crazy things we all do – conversations, experiences, holiday and family traditions, all forming a tapestry of our values, priorities, and worldview.
Over the Labor Day weekend, I joined some of my grandkids, sliding down a large, blow-up water slide erected in our son and daughter-in-law’s back yard. It was a Saturday afternoon filled with fun and laughter. When I wasn’t the “crazy grandpa” on the slide, I sat in a lawn chair watching the little ones laughing, playing, and wrestling with their dad.
They challenged dad for who could stay at the top of the slide without getting pushed down – a modified version of “King of the Mountain.” This got me thinking…that time hanging out with family and doing nothing of consequence other than having fun together is making really wonderful memories not just for me, but for my kids and their kids. How do you put a price on that?
You work so hard, focusing on managing and growing your business, taking care of all the responsibilities that life requires — things you need to do to pay the bills, provide security, be responsible, and check things off your to-do list. And yet, the value of the time you invest with your family to keep relationships healthy or heal a frayed relationship – you simply can’t measure that in dollars, and cents or in time increments. They are priceless.
So my encouragement for you today is simply this. Think about where this week you can invest in something priceless…something that won’t show up on a spreadsheet or balance sheet. Invest in a relationship with a loved one – or perhaps someone you are mentoring. Make sure you have some truly priceless contributions each and every week. That’s a recipe for a marvelous life!
