The answer here is an emphatic “NO”. However, in today's world, the need to meet financial obligations has led to many couples living thousands of miles apart. The issue here is caution. As much as it is essential for couples to meet financial obligations and career demands, other salient and more important issues arise such as companionship, emotional satisfaction, upbringing of the children etc. More and more homes are breaking up as a result of spouses’ separation.

As much as possible, my advice is, this type of separation should be avoided. Where this is not possible, do everything to ensure that the situation does not continue for too long. And put definite programmes in place to ensure that you communicate regularly.

When career postings take a spouse out of station, the other person should try and get a transfer to join the spouse. Where this is not possible, schedule regular visits and pray for direction and let the Holy Spirit lead you. Pray for one another and God will see you through.

The first step to having an effective family altar is to have a set time. This is because there is a tendency to go beyond time whenever you do a teaching of the scriptures. When this becomes a common occurrence, the children especially would begin to avoid the family altar because it goes on for too long. They look for ways of escape not because they don't enjoy what you shared, but because you don't have specific time duration.

So the first thing to do is to attach a specific duration to your fellowship time. The time could vary between 30 minutes to one hour depending on the daily itinerary of the family and how much time they can afford to give to the family fellowship. Ideally, family devotions should be a daily affair but again, the timing should be flexible enough to accommodate everybody in the family, hence it could be done in the mornings or delayed till evenings, just before bedtime. At this time, it is likely that everybody would be home.

Secondly, it is advisable to have a daily devotional to assist in making the Bible Study easier and faster. This way you can manage your time better.

You can also make the period more interesting by introducing testimonies and involving your wife and children in the entire process. You could put every member of the family on a roster so they also get the chance to lead the fellowship. Not only will it encourage them to pray and study, it will also increase their knowledge of the Word as well as their involvement in the spiritual growth of the family.