13 | Do You Trust Me?

In a recent conversation, my wife and I were reflecting on the realities of dividing roles within our household.

In this particular season, my work generates the majority of our household income and my wife's work is caring for our three young children.

Both roles are integral to how our family functions every single day. Both roles also require a high level of trust that the other person is playing their role to the best of their abilities.

One tension that always exists is how the breadwinner spends time at work, particularly on days that are challenging on the home front.

Some days I get home later than expected. Some days I go out to lunch with co-workers who fortunately are also close friends - the balance of work and fun can get pretty blurry. Some days I am still processing the day while we're sitting at the dinner table as a family.

The temptation is to believe that the breadwinner wastes time or prioritizes the wrong things or actively chooses to be at work instead of at home.

As we reflected, I was grateful for the trust and benefit of the doubt that is extended to me and realized that the exact same tension exists with our household spending.

In our particular case, my wife spends the majority of our household dollars. Not because she is a big spender, but because in this season she keeps our home life functioning.

Some days $500 gets spent at Costco. Some days a flurry of Amazon packages land on our doorstep. Some days there is a new lamp or picture frame or storage bin in a corner of the house.

The temptation is to believe that the spender wastes dollars or prioritizes the wrong things or actively chooses to spend instead of save.

The temptations are eerily similar. The accountability demanded and trust required are the exact same regardless of your role.

Do you trust me?