posted April 06, 2009 06:00 PM            

Another example would be my wife - she's a writer. She spends hours every day in studying, research and writing. I am not jealous over it, but I could see becoming so IF she was to do only that and never spend time with us. Too much of (almost) anything is never a good thing.

Pray about it and more importantly talk to her about it to ask how you can do both at the same time, as I'm sure it is possible. Let her know that you love her more than anything, but that you love cooking too and ask her to help you come to a solution. Maybe it's to limit your food studies to a certain number of hours per day.

posted April 06, 2009 10:01 PM               

Prayer is the best good place to start, especially prayer for wisdom.

Then remember where your faith comes from. According to the apostle Paul, the Word of God is the source of our faith. "So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God," Paul said in Romans 10:17.

A well-grounded faith that's based on the Word will always place God first. As you study and mature in the Word, the other things in our life -- like your wife (or husband), family and church -- will follow in order.

Focus on your wife. She's the love of your life. "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her ...," Paul said in Ephesians 5:25. The love that Paul writes about here is a sacrificial (agape) love -- one that places the other person first. First Corinthians 13 is a good chapter to study on the topic of love, followed by Philippians 2.

As Ira said, work toward a balance between passion for food (whether through work or study). I've heard of celebrity chefs let their drive for career split their families.

I personally had to learn when to pay attention to my wife and children early in my almost three-decade marriage. I partially accomplished this by locating work in a segment of the industry that didn't place as many demands on me in terms of time. This allowed me to spend time with my wife and children in the evenings and to assemble with the saints on the Lord's Day.

It's important to know when to set your culinary study aside (kind of like Kenny Roger's: "You got to know when to hold em, know when to fold em") and devote attention to your beloved. That'll come from wisdom and experience. And, of course, prayer will be important.

Always keep Paul's command to love your wife in the front of your mind. Much more that affection, this command carries Christ's example. And, above all, remember Peter's command to husbands: