By Deacon Emanuel Tsarnas

The legal profession is extremely demanding of our time which impinges on the time spent with our spouses and family. Now add to that the role of a ministry leader at a parish -- juggling these roles with our family lives is not easy. It is here that prioritizing and time management are critical. Let us look at the order of priority in the three most important areas of family, work, and church ministry.

Family

God blesses our marriages as he did the wedding at Cana. “Therefore, what God has joined together let no man separate” (Mt 19:6).  To survive, our marriages must be Christ-centered, which requires us to spend time with our spouses in worship and prayer. By extension we need to spend time with our children connecting with Christ by spending time in prayer within our homes and at church. If we take an eternal perspective, as God does, our families become the most important aspect in our lives. We are not living for the material things of this world but to save our souls and the souls of our spouses and children. All other aspects of our lives should revolve around our family life to make sure we and our families are on the narrow path toward the Kingdom of Heaven. 

Work

It is the blessing of our work, through the gifts God has given us, that allows us to support our families. However, the demands of the legal profession can easily cause us to work long hours thus neglecting our spouses and children.  The challenge is knowing when to end our day and leave our work to go home to be with our family or maybe to say “no” to some new cases to allow us to maintain that work life balance. If we aren’t home with our family for dinner or the special events in their lives, including spending time in prayer and attending church to worship, we lose sight of the eternal perspective. It is our work choices that will have the greatest impact on our family life. The drive to success and wealth has been known to destroy the best of families.  Making that extra effort to be home for dinner and pray with your children can make all the difference in the world in keeping our family on that narrow path to the Kingdom of Heaven. 

Church Ministry   

It is clearly a challenge to keep our work life balance in and of itself so as not to neglect our spouse and families, but what happens when we add our commitment to our Church ministry. Whether as a lay person or as a clergyman attorney, adding a commitment to our church ministry, such as serving on the Parish Council, as an altar server, or a youth advisor, just to name a few, the demand on our time can almost appear daunting.  We all recognize the importance of giving our time, talent and treasure to our parish communities, which shows our gratitude to God for all that He has given us and sets an example for others.  In Mark 10:45 Christ says, “for even the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve.”   The challenge is not taking on more than we can handle. As they say, in life timing is everything. Each one of us may be in different stages in our careers, some newly admitted and trying to establish a career, others might be newly married and have just started a family, while others may be at the end of their careers and looking at retirement. We must take account of our life circumstances when giving back to the Church as one size does not fit all. In the early stages of our careers and family life we may have limited time and can only help the Church at the festival or in some other limited capacity. Later in our careers, as our life circumstances change, we may have more time to join a ministry such as the Parish Council or a ministry that requires a greater time commitment.  Many times, our commitment to the Church is a progression as we journey through our lives.

Conclusion

Ultimately, the challenge for all of us is keeping family, work life, and church ministry in balance.  When we can manage our work and ministry demands we leave ourselves with more time to pray and worship with our family, and stay Christ-centered in all that we do as we journey toward the Kingdom of Heaven.                                                      

Deacon Emanuel Tsarnas is a solo practitioner specializing in real estate transactions in both New York and New Jersey since 1986 and is married with twin boys. He was ordained to the diaconate in 2021 by Archbishop Elpidophoros of America and serves at St. George Greek Orthodox Church in Asbury Park/Ocean, New Jersey.

June 5, 2025

© 2025 Emanuel Tsarnas