Priorities

Why is it that whenever I determine to blog more, my life becomes so busy I can't even think, much less blog?  Or when I try to carve out a little time for myself, or to catch up with friends, or have an entire conversation in one sitting with my husband that everything else falls apart?  I used to wish for more hours in the day, but then I realized I would cram those just as full as the hours I have now.  I don't need more hours, I just need to do less stuff.

So I sat down with a little notebook and asked these questions of myself.  (Some of the ideas came from Revive our Hearts daily podcast.)

1.  What season am I in?  Is it time to learn or teach, is it time to cry or laugh, is it time to keep or throw away, is time to tear down or build...?  And what do these mean in my life?

2.  What are God's priorities for me in this season?

3.  What things merely loudly call for my attention and what things are truly important?

I have to admit.  These were extremely difficult to answer, because they aren't as black and white as they seem.  The line between teaching and learning is often fuzzy, sometimes I laugh and cry at the same time, but it is still a good starting place.

My list ended up looking something like this.

Priorities for My Home:

Priority #1.  Matt. 6:33-34 - Serve the Lord with all I've got! (mind, body, spirit)  - For me this means meeting Him in His Word first thing in my day, and then also carving out some time to be alone with Him in prayer.  The latter one is much tricker for me.  I don't even get to go to the bathroom alone these days.  But it is possible, it just takes some creativity.  Yesterday got down on my knees in the shower while I was waiting for my conditioner to, um, condition and spent the most wonderful 5 minutes with the Lord.  I also pray as I work, but the alone time is so necessary.

Priority #2.  Proverbs 31:11 - Serve and love my husband.  This one is tricky, not because my husband is so unlovable (though aren't we all sometimes), but because I have a tendency to try and place him at priority #1 instead of #2.  I don't know if you have ever done that, but it doesn't usually end well.  A while back I was really frustrated with Greg, no matter what he did for me (and it is a lot), it was never enough.  I finally realized that I was putting him in God's position of #1 and he just wasn't capable of doing that job.  Imagine that.  So we now affectionately refer to one another as "#2" or "Second Best".  

Priority #3. Deut. 6:5-9 - Care for and train my children.  I truly believe that "Mother" isn't just my title, but it is my calling.  I always wanted to be in full time ministry, and now I am. (Is there such thing as more than full time?)  Of course, this is easy to say, but hard to put into practice.  I like to check things off a list and get thing accomplished, and I may never see what my efforts are producing in my children.

Priority #4. Prov. 31:27 -  Keep my Home.  This is also a hard one for me.  It isn't just cleaning, cooking, laundering, fixing, scheduling... but also making our home a haven and a place of rest for all who enter.  It's being hospitable and trying to bless others with what God has loaned to us.  It's just hard for me to remember that this is 4th on my list and not 2nd or 3rd.  I so often hear myself telling the kids "Just a minute, let me finish this first."  A friend of mine with grown children gave me some wonderful advice when my oldest was little, she said "Teach them to do what you are doing, while you are doing it, you will be so glad that you did."  It takes a lot longer to teach while I do, but it's good for me and them.

These are only my top 4 and my entire day could be filled with these alone.  However, I still have church ministry, friends, e-mails, phone calls, blogging, exercise, sleep and *gasp* maybe even some free time to fit onto my plate.  So next time I will be blogging about "Time Robbers" and how to identify them.  Until then, how do you order your days so that the first things remain first?