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Hello, hello, welcome back to the Relatable Parenting Podcast.
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Even longer for me because the last episode was a solo episode.
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God, good feedback from that one.
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I miss podcasting with you.
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It's a busy season for us.
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And my parents have been away in Asia for almost a month now.
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The goal was that we would be able to keep all of our ducks in a row
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and be able to do all the things that we're normally
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used to doing, like work, family, podcasting.
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But Josh and I are ready to have one of our biggest support
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back so that we can put life back into balancing.
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They deserve to go on vacation.
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And in fact, they're not even really going on vacation.
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They're actually there for a mission trip.
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But I won't go into too many details on that because they are
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And our next episode is going to be me interviewing my parents.
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So you guys can get to know them better.
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And they talk a lot about what they're doing in Asia right now.
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This intentional break has actually done some good, which breaks
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and rest often do during those breaks and rest times.
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That's when the creative juices get to flow.
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During that break that we had, Josh and I got to chat
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and talk about the direction that we wanted to take this podcast.
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We say that every other episode.
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But that's the fun part about you guys being here
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You get to see us be scrappy and pivot
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and figure this thing out.
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Josh, why don't you share with them
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the revelation that we had that has us really excited
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for the next couple of episodes?
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Like Purcell said, we're trying things out.
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We're hearing feedback.
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And we're trying to understand how to best serve you guys.
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At then the day, we know that we're not expert parents.
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We have two young kids.
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And although we do enjoy sharing things
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that we've learned and experienced,
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we know that it is relatable,
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but it's not expertise level wisdom.
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There's a podcast that she found and listened to this week
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that shifted not just her mindset,
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but my mindset as well on productivity
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and what it looks like to actually do things
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for the glory of God and a different viewpoint
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on being a productive human being.
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It's not what success can I gather in this world for myself,
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but rather how can I use what God is calling me to do
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and pursuing the things that He's calling us to do
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for His glory and still being successful,
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but in a different way.
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It was eye-opening from a standpoint
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of what are we doing with relatable parenting?
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Is it actually productive or is it just fluff?
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What we're shifting, at least for the next few weeks
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after Priscilla's interview with her parents,
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gonna look at things that we digest what we consume
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and learn and bring them to the table
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for you to point you in directions of actual experts
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and things that we're going to be implementing
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in our parenting and our relationship as well.
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Josh and I listen to a ton of podcasts
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and Josh reads a lot of books I want to be on his level
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of being an avid reader.
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Yeah, and we're constantly growing,
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whether that's spiritually,
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relationally, professionally or personally,
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we're always trying to not necessarily optimize ourselves
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but grow as human beings.
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We're not perfect and there are definitely things we don't know
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but we're excited to learn about them.
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Is it valuable enough to share
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and then give the credit to where credits do?
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Perfect example as well.
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We're going to be talking about in a couple of minutes.
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Give us your feedback.
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Let us know if you like it.
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And if you do, we'll continue.
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If you don't, then we'll try and make things better.
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Josh and I like a lot of similar topics
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but we also like different ways of learning about those topics.
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It's cool that we get to bring you then
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to the real conversations that we have
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about parenting and marriage.
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With that being said, let's get into this episode, shall we?
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We are big fans of dial in with Johnny Art of Vannis
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or big fans of his podcast.
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If you haven't listened, you should.
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And you should start with this episode
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that we're about to talk about
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because it's awesome.
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He has so many good ones.
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Josh is the one who often sends them to me.
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But this week, I sent it to him,
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the topic caught my eye because I love being productive.
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Redeeming productivity.
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Redeeming productivity is the name of the book
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that the guest on his podcast episode wrote.
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The guest's name was Reagan Rose.
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Johnny really liked it.
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He brought him onto the podcast to talk about it.
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And I thought immediately, this is such an interesting topic.
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To be honest with you, I do not have
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as much biblical knowledge as Josh does.
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I spent a good chunk of my life being an infant Christian
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and not being in God's word at all
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or connected to a church.
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I think because I've been so deep in the secular world
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without a biblical worldview,
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I sometimes have these concepts
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that are really hard for me to grapple with.
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I love productivity.
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I love self-development type stuff.
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I think sometimes I have a hard time
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because in the Christian community,
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I feel like those things can be anti-reliant on Jesus.
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So I love this topic.
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I'm gonna go through the notes
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and we're gonna dissect them together.
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It starts off with this statement that
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we should be people who do what we say we're going to do.
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That was a strong opening for me
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because it made me realize that he was about
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to talk about productivity and a positive light,
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but with a very biblical perspective.
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Would you agree with that?
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It definitely set the tone for the rest of the podcast.
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They framed it, correct me if I'm wrong.
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Productivity isn't bad,
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but you should check yourself on your why
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for being productive.
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The way that they phrased it was the motivation
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for productivity makes all the difference.
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Do you remember that part?
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Yeah, I think a lot of things can be framed that way.
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I was reading earlier in Luke
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and it was a lot about the Sabbath
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and how the Pharisees were constantly watching Jesus
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on the Sabbath so they can catch him
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whereas the disciples read-handed
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for breaking the Sabbath.
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The Sabbath was never intended
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It was intended for rest and for recovery
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and the heart of it is to be able to go and worship the Lord.
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On those days, not to restrict yourself
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from working and doing hard things.
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A lot of Jesus teachings is actually around that very topic.
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Yes, the law is there,
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but it's really a matter of the heart.
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What this podcast goes into is that productivity
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a lot of the times the heart behind it
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is for self-promotion,
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for self-indulgence,
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when it should be instead glorifying to God.
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It was a simple explanation,
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but I think it helped me understand that balance better.
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I have a lot of moments with Christianes
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which is things that Christians say and I am a Christian.
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So I'm starting to say those things as well.
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But I remember when I first came back
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into the Christian world,
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people would say things and I would be confused.
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Let me try and give an example.
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For example, I was raised with a super big emphasis
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on hard work is a character that you need to develop.
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And it's something that you need to focus on
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and that needs to be a big part of your character
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and your life because it'll get you far.
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This podcast episode helped
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because it was talking about productivity,
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which to me is very similar to hard work.
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To help me articulate what I'm trying to say.
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I would not do hard things
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because I would say I was relying on the Lord.
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There's a Psalm that Pastor Bruce shared with me
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about Israel working.
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They still had to work,
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even though they were trusting the Lord.
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They were worshiping God.
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They were praising God,
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but they were doing it while they were working.
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Sometimes we can use God as a scapegoat to be lazy.
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Unintentionally, most of the time it's naivety.
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It's definitely a Christianese move like,
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I'm just going to trust God with my work.
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I'm not going to do this project
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or I'm going to let someone else do this project
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because I'm just going to trust God.
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It's going to get me to where he wants me to go.
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And in some respect, that's true.
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Even if you don't go do the hard thing,
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God can still direct you on a path
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to get you to where you're going to go.
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But at the same time, if you were to pursue something
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that's a little bit more challenging
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in trusting God to do that,
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then the pursuit of that isn't wrong.
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It was kind of a heart check, right?
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Why am I pursuing this?
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Oh, I'm pursuing this for myself
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and to make more money or to get recognition
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Let me pull back and not pursue that.
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And just trust that God's got it.
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It's a weird balance, but at the same time,
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there are definitely moments where I used as a way
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of giving into my fear of failure
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or giving into my fear of having to do something
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that was more difficult.
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That was the exact Christianese phrase
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that I was talking about that I heard so often.
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One of the things that it made me think of immediately,
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it was, wow, it's so important to be in God's Word every day.
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I think that there needs to be a balance.
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A lot of the times, I think my friends are right
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when they say that I need a trust in the Lord
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for many situations.
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I think sometimes people can go too far with it
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and then not live up to their God-given potential
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because what it actually is is fear or laziness,
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but I also can go too far in taking things into my own hands
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and trying to control the situation.
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It is so important to be in God's Word every day
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Every person is prone to lean in one direction.
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Somewhere more like me where they very easily rely on themselves,
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then there's the other side of the spectrum.
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You're just saying that you're relying on God,
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but deep down, you're making decisions
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based on fear or laziness.
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Whatever side of the spectrum you lean on,
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it's of great benefit to be in God's Word every single day
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so that you could check your intentions
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towards the end of the episode.
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He touches on starting your day with God first.
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I really liked his point about starting the day with Jesus.
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It actually inspired me to not give myself an excuse
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to dive into God's Word at other times of the day.
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That's bonus if I do that,
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but it really motivated me to get excited
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about starting my day with Jesus anytime
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that you can get with the Lord is going to be unofficial.
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But he made some awesome points
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about starting your day with the Lord
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and he did relate it back to productivity.
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I'll say the one analogy that he said
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that really stuck out and then I want Josh
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to give his due sense because I saw you nod.
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He said one of the differences
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between a worldly getting up early in the morning
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versus a God-driven desire to get up in the morning early.
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For worldly, he used Jeff Bezos
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and some other billionaire as an example
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of people that get up at 4 a.m.
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They did it to be more productive,
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getting up to start your day with the Lord.
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You're trying to slow down your day.
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I really liked that he said,
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something is going to pull you in in the morning
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and it's a good idea to slow down and set the anchor.
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I really liked that analogy.
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I want to start the morning off calm, grounded,
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and setting the anchor so that I know what my priorities are.
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What did you have to add?
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Because I saw you nod,
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so I know you have some good things to say right now.
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Yeah, it's always been a goal of mine
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to get in the Word first thing in the morning.
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It's similar to what he talks about.
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It sets you up for the rest of the day.
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I remember Pastor Byron talking about having
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at least a verse that you can hold on to throughout the day
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and utilizing that as a practice
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if you write it down or have it as a reminder in your phone
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from the very beginning of your day,
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you are being renewed by the Word, by God,
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himself speaking to you.
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If you wait till the end of the day, again, that's fine.
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You can take that into the next day,
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but optimally in the morning first thing,
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it really does set the tone for the rest of the day.
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I like that part too.
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I've historically wanted to wake up early
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to be more productive, to be faster,
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to be more efficient,
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to squeeze as much as I could into the day.
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This episode, this redeeming productivity idea,
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this thought process shifted that in me
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to instead slow down and get time with the Lord
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and let him lead my day.
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I wish I read it this morning
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because there are moments in my day
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where I could have leaned on the fact
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that Jesus was talking about loving your enemies
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and turning the other cheek
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and living like he does as a humble human being.
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I have moments of pride and anger and frustration
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and if I had read that sooner,
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who knows, maybe I would have had different responses
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versus my immature reactions.
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I really loved that aspect of the episode.
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It was really good.
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Last thing, it also helps you take control of the rest of your day.
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He also goes into time blocking
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and really trying to schedule out your day
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gives you so much more time
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because it gives you the discipline throughout your day
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so that you have the means, you have the time,
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you know what you're going to be giving throughout the day
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versus allowing the day to control you
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and your schedule or random things pop up.
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No, I have family time for four hours after work.
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Nothing should be getting in the way of that.
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I really like that.
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They mentioned a bunch of golden nuggets.
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Tracking commitment is a way to do the things that you say,
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you're going to do and it helps you be a person
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Goals don't need to be self-serving
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and then there's nothing wrong with ambition
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but it can be very self-centered sometimes.
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We should be people who do what we say we're going to do.
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Productivity is not the meaning of life
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even if it's important and you belong to God.
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That's why you should be productive.
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If it's all about you, you can forget why you exist
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and it can make you lazy.
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Yeah, can I actually speak to that real quick?
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There's so many things on social media now
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about becoming the best version of you.
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Whether that's from a productivity standpoint,
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a health standpoint, a spiritual standpoint,
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it's all about optimization.
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Bruce has touched on this.
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It goes from wanting to be better as a human being
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to it becoming an idol.
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That's all you focus on.
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It keeps people away from looking to the Lord
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and it focuses on how can they be better?
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How can they be a better person?
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How can they live longer?
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If that's all you're doing productivity for
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and you're missing the point.
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I think that's what Reagan was talking about.
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Productivity is actually a God glorifying act.
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God calls us to work.
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He worked for six days and then he rested.
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He had Adam work in the garden of Eden
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even before the fall of man.
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Work was always part of God's plan
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and we are expected to work.
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We should want to be as productive as possible
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but it should be in the service of others
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and for the glory of God.
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That's definitely something that I've struggled with
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where I've wanted to optimize my human body
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and mind and time and it became an idol
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and it pulled me away from the Lord.
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I started getting big-headed thinking this God
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even a thing, it was bad.
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I love that point of productivity
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is not the meaning of life.
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Even though social media makes it out to be,
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Social media definitely makes productivity an idol.
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It was such a good episode.
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We'll link it down below so that you all can take a listen.
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It's bite size, it's pretty short.
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I listened to it on 2X and it took me only 12 minutes.
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Given all the things that we talked about
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on the podcast episode today
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and what we learned from Johnny and Reagan
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on their podcast episode,
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how do you plan to apply everything you learned
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towards your parents in this week?
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Morning routine, reminding myself
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that it's meant to be first slowing down
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versus speeding up, committing to it
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and doing what I say I'm gonna do
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will help the rest of the day be a more positive
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and uplifting experience, not just for myself
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but for the people around me,
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whether that's you or the girls
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or the people I work with.
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My base takeaway was controlling the morning
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from a practical standpoint is so important.
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And I've seen it in the past.
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When I wake up on time when I'm committed
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to doing things I say I'm gonna do in the morning,
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my days are so much better.
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It's God glorifying activity,
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setting a good example for our kids is always a positive.
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We obviously are in a unique position
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where we both work from home quite a bit.
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We actually are gonna be visible to our kids.
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They're gonna see us working hard and diligent
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and being ambitious and doing the right things.
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I think setting a good example there.
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And obviously incorporating the Lord in everything, right?
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If we're talking about our day at work,
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talking about it in a positive and grateful light,
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I think will in turn not just help us be better parents
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and have us have a more positive and loving attitude
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but it also will set that example for our kids
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as they grow older, whether it's schoolwork
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or actual labor when they get older.
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Thanks for wrapping it up and taking it away.
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Thank you so much for listening and watching.
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We appreciate it if you aren't subscribed to the podcast.
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Wherever you subscribe we should be there.
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You can find us on social media,
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whether that's Instagram or TikTok or YouTube.
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We appreciate all the support and we hope that you guys
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have a very productive week.
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Till next week, we'll see you then.