You look for quick fixes to get things back in order and your attempts yield nothing more than a heated up plate of junk?
That's where I've been living the last few weeks. Running on fumes, unorganized, tired, feeling chaotic.The words that should describe my Spirit filled days are order, peace, joy, life, kindness, patience, gentleness...to name a few.
One thing absent from my days has been order. Everyday looks and feels different. As bad as I do not like a schedule, some amount of routine is necessary so I can have a map to see where I need to be going each day. Here's what I've come up with so far.
My top priorities:
1) My relationship with God. This is the most important thing and if it is lacking I know something is wrong with how I'm spending my time and my days.
2) My relationship with my Family. The days quietly slip by and sometimes I even feel that I miss my family even though we've all been under the same roof.
3) Housework. As bad as I wish this wasn't at the top of my list it is what it is. I am in charge of keeping house. I want my home to reflect peace, contentment, warmth, good food, joy, relationship. If junk is everywhere that fosters peace for no one.
4) My Business. God has entrusted a fruitful business into our hands and I have people that I'm responsible for shepherding. It is a blessing and my responsibility to be faithful to God's provision for our family in this area.
5) Everything else I want to invest time in. Here's where the rubber meets the road. There are lots and lots of things I want to give my time and energy to. The bottom line though is that I only have so much time in a given day. I believe God has order and a plan for every single thing we are supposed to give our time to each day. If we'll be sensitive to what needs to be done and what opportunities God has inserted or deleted from our day we'll have the ability to walk in peace.
There are some days I just want to load up the bus and go window shop at Targe' because it sounds stinkin' fun. Here is the hard part. Sometimes as the Mom we have to be disciplined and look at the big picture. Ask some hard questions. Is this decision of how I'm spending my time beneficial? Is it productive? Can it be delayed to another day. If you are like me you do not like to deny yourself. You want quick fixes and gratification.
Don't you just love the sluggard verses in Proverbs (insert laughter here). The sluggard looks at harvest time and finds empty fields.
The month of May is going to be me sharing my journey of trying to be fruitful at home. Here is my tip for today in regards to keeping house. We have a love hate relationship with Flylady and we fall of the wagon and get back on again and that's great. Her greatest gift to me has been the concept of ZONE WORK. Breaking my home into Zones and spending a little time each day in the zone.
She has revamped her Daily Cleaning Missions and you can get the entire week at a time on her website now. http://www.flylady.net/ Go to her website with your calender, jot down the mission for each day and you'll know where to spend a few minutes each day. If you are feeling really ambitious you can take a peak at every Zone for the month of May and pencil it in.
Remember you reap what you sow. Whatever you invest time in is what you'll see the fruit of in your life.
