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I am a father of two little boys (2 and 4) and happily married. We both work (I work as close to full time as possible, my wife works about 15-20 hrs per week, 3 nights a week).

I was wondering what others in similar circumstances have done to manage their time such that they have time for the
Bible reading and study that is of high quality.

I never fully appreciated the time commitment that children bring. I love them dearly, but at times I feel like I'm being pulled apart!

--Joe

Hi Joe, and welcome to the forum!

It certainly is difficult when you have children and both parents must work outside the home. I don't know your situation, but I'd encourage you to pray and think about ways to bring you wife home. That should go a long way in making it easier to manage all your responsibilities, including some quality Bible study. In the meantime, again, not really knowing your situation, I'll throw out a couple of suggestions.

Eliminate time wasters which could include: TV, magazines, newspapers.
Study after you have tucked the children in for the night, or
Go to bed early so that you can study in the morning before your children awaken.

Sometimes I find that I need to leave the house to study/pray in the mornings. My precious wife has a tendency to go 90 miles an hour the minute she's out of bed and sometimes the flurry of activity makes it hard for me to focus, so I'll take my Bible or my laptop to the coffee shop. There's activity there too, but it's of a kind that I can block out. Sometimes I'll take my Bible and just go sit in my pickup. Before I retired from my career, I used to go to the office early and study before starting work. I have a friend who regularly uses his lunch hour for Bible study.

I'm sure that as you seek the Lord, he will guide you.

_________________
Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity!

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Joe,
I am a full-time minister and my wife (a programmer) works as well.

First, personal study is essential and Gideon's suggestions are great! Another thing you could do is a devotional/discussion with your wife. For awhile (before I was a professional minister) Kim and I worked through devotions together. We would make our bed in the morning and set our devotional on the pillows and promise each other to not pull back the covers till we had discussed the material and prayed together. Wow, did I grow spiritually during that time and our marriage relationship grew as well!

I would also like to recommend to you to read a competant Childrens Bible to your sons regularly now. A bed-time reading takes maybe a half an hour. I think you will be surprised how God will use that and the questions of those sweet boys to challenge you and grow you as well. You will be shocked and amazed at how much they will learn about God if you do this!

FYI, my family and I are about to start a Family Bible Study using a book titled "Changing Hearts and Teaching Minds" by Starr Meade. It is essentially a simplified version of the Shorter Westminster Catechism. Right now we are planning on starting this (with a few modifications)at the beginning of the new year. The daily assignments are really easy and shouldn't take too long to accomplish. We are setting up a family night where we plan on having a discussion of the weekly readings while playing a popular game or some other family focused activity. Now my children are older than yours (10 & 8 yrs) so this is a bit too much for yours. But something else for you to think about.

One last thing, the self-study area here (viewforum.php?f=103) is a really good resource and could help to direct and supplement your personal study.

Blessings,
Randy