Tag Archives: First Things First

First Things First: Getting Back to “Normal”

21 Monday May 2012

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Monday Morning. Again. They just keep on coming, don’t they?

Last week was our massive final push to get the house unpacked and livable. And mostly, we’ve succeeded. All the “extra” is in a storage unit (which I now am in the process of selling and purging bit by bit), the classroom is put together (well, it was before I tore it apart this morning to try a new organizational system), and we had our first dinner guests! A dear couple, who has been just a rock for us through this nonsense and their two adorable babies. I made grilled veggies, enough fruit salad for an entire army, and balsamic chicken. They brought brownies. See, didn’t I tell you they were awesome friends?

This morning, hubbie left at the crack of dawn to for another work thing, where he will be gone for six weeks. Sigh. Yup, our normal. What we didn’t want to be our normal anymore. It is what it is. So, I’ve planned six full weeks full of work, fun, and activity for both me and the girls – to keep ourselves and our minds occupied. Today, we started our normal school routine and didn’t get as far as I hoped, though we might get back to that after nap time.

In my Bible study group, we’re working through Kelly Minter’s study, “Nehemiah: a heart that can break.” It’s really interesting. I’m trying to catch up a little, since I spent the first week or so unpacking, but I’ve never really thought much about the book of Nehemiah, and am enjoying how she is tying things in and pulling new things out.

The past few days of this study, what’s been coming at me is this idea of what has God put on my heart? What is my “cup to bear” (Nehemiah was the king’s cupbearer, but he also carried a burden for the city of Jerusalem.)

In Nehemiah 3, we read about the individuals who worked on various parts of the wall – and many of them worked on the wall right in front of their own house. And Kelly brings out the point that we are called to serve God right where we are.

(Read 1 Corinthians 12:12-27 here.)

But our bodies have many parts, and God has put each part just where he wants it. — 1 Corinthians 12:18

Which of course, has me thinking about me, and our situation of being in the DC area without planning on it.

Yes, we know this is all to God’s plan in the long run, or at least mentally we do. (Not all of me has completely caught up or is solidly sold on the ideal still, I confess. I’m trying to work on it.)

But God has me right where he wants me.

I really needed to read that today. In fact, I’m going to copy that and put it up on my bulletin board. (As soon as it’s put up on the wall of course.)

God has a reason that I am here. He has a work, a serving him right in front of my home, that He is calling me to do. He has walls that need repairing, and gates that need to be fixed. There is work IN me, IN our family, and in our area of influence that He is calling us to step up and dig in and get dirty doing.

So I’m thinking this week on what is burdening my heart. What is my current cup to bear. What is my wall that I feel called to right now.

And what I plan to do about it.

First Things First: Starting Over

14 Monday May 2012

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Well, it’s another Monday morning, and we’re sitting in our new apartment.

We happen to be surrounded by boxes and JUNK. The amount we’ve had to purge in order to fit in the apartment is crazy. I promise we’re not hoarders, but it sure feels like it right now! But it’s all just stuff, right? STUFF. I’ve had to become quite ruthless in what we keep and quite creative in storing stuff. I’ve had to reach back in the recesses of my brain to my college days of how I used to store things in my tiny dorm room.

By the way – you can store A LOT of stuff under beds!

We have one box left that has not been touched, and other than that just lots of piles of little junk everywhere. Little piles that have to be gone through one piece at a time. I’ve had to “bin” several of those piles to get to later, unfortunately, but I didn’t want to get bogged down by papers and filing, etc. So once I get past all of this stuff, I’ll have to tackle one bin a week until it’s all gone.

THIS week, though, I am going to get this apartment to the point of living in it, versus just surviving. And then I’ve got to get back to homeschool – we’ve had way too long of a school break, and we’re dreadfully far behind. And I found several summer camp programs for the girls to participate in this summer (ballet and Spanish immersion, plus VBS) so that will put us “behind” as well. Which is fine, but it’s really time we get back to a real routine. And I need to get back to working as soon as possible.

One thing I implemented last week worked out amazingly well for us – morning bike break! As soon as we were dressed and had breakfast, I took the bikes downstairs and the girls played while I enjoyed my cup of coffee and a bit of relaxing. As soon as I find my Bible study stuff (which I assume is in a pile somewhere!) this will be a great time for me to get a little bit of devotional time in the mornings, and it also lets the girls blow off a bit of steam first thing, instead of storing it up all day long. They were much more willing to let me unpack for hours after taking thirty minutes outside each morning! So, new daily routine ready to go AND solves dilemma for me! I will really be able to put “first things first” AND wear out the girls a bit at the same time. God is good!

First Things First: Making Some Lemonade

30 Monday Apr 2012

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Instead of our move being delayed, it’s now been cancelled. (See post on my family blog HERE.) Beginning Wednesday, we were in frantic apartment search mode. We signed a lease on Saturday, and spent Sunday afternoon at IKEA buying a full apartment worth of furniture (we own nothing, because our housing overseas is usually furnished).

By the way, the delivery and building charge at IKEA? Worth every single penny! These guys brought everything up the two flights of stairs, and are now building ALL the furniture in just a few hours, where this would have taken me and my hubbie WEEKS. (Neither of us are the least bit handy at all.) We should be fully moved in (but obviously not unpacked) by the end of this week! I am so looking forward to all of this being done!

I entitled this “Making Some Lemonade,” because I have had to make a very conscious decision to have a good, positive attitude about all of this nonsense this past week. First of all, for the girls, who will take their cues about how to feel about this from me. Thankfully, they are so excited that they will get to stay near all of their new friends here in the area, they could care less about not getting to move overseas like we planned. Hallelujah and Praise the Lord on that one!

But secondly, for the hubbie. If I had a bad attitude about this, he would take it as a personal criticism and that I was blaming him for the change; and he would, in turn, blame himself. For something out of his and in no way his fault. And that’s just not fair.

Crud happens. That’s just life. Therefore, make lemonade. Every time you start to pucker up like you’ve been sucking on a lemon, make some more. And then some more. And eventually, you’ll be addicted!

my pink lemonade addition

Plus there are a lot of good reasons to be happy about being here. Getting to stay involved with our Bible studies and church groups, getting to spend more time with friends, having access to Target and IKEA and Costco, those are all great things. Did I mention how cool IKEA and Target and Costco are???

To be quite honest, I will be a LOT more appreciative of those things when we get past the unpacking phase.

Not having much downtime this past week, I didn’t make a lot of progress on my personal Bible study work. I did copy down all of the Bible verses in chapter two of Beth Moore’s Praying God’s Word: Breaking Free from Spiritual Strongholds, to begin meditating on this week. So that will be my goal for this week.

That, setting up the house, and unpacking. Hopefully by next week, we will be back on a “normal” schedule.

First Things First: When Life is in Limbo

23 Monday Apr 2012

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Last week was NOT a good week. Dealing with getting the car repaired after a fender bender, dealing with the other person’s insurance company, buying new car seats, getting a rental car, and dealing with packers and movers who came and got all of our stuff — can you believe it THAT was the easy part of the week?

But then, add in the hotel that sprung a massive leak. As in, the leak was on the seventh floor. Our room was highly affected.On the third floor. Yeah. Thankfully, we were dealing with soggy carpet and not ruined STUFF because all of our stuff was gone! Now, we’re living in a reconstruction zone with industrial fans, de-humidifier and holes in the walls.

To top it all off, after all the toys are packed up, the car is getting repaired, and we’re living out of suitcases, we find out that our move has been delayed at least two additional weeks.

Which began my complete and total freak out.

Yeah, we all know I have issues with the lack of control over my own life in this Foreign Service lifestyle. So the fact I’ve held it together this long while living in a hotel, it quite miraculous.

All the same, it was a pretty ugly sight.

The weekend was spent just coming to the point of acceptance and resignation. And we’re back to waiting. Just waiting for answers, decisions, and a chance to move forward.

This period of waiting with seemingly no direction and no “purpose” can be so demoralizing. And that, for me, leads to just being completely frozen in procrastination. What to do?

So, today, I am pretending to erase last week entirely and declaring a do-over.

In addition, I’m starting to realize certain daily routines that will need to be added to our daily schedules once we eventually DO move . . . somewhere. In order to keep on top of the house insanity, we will all have to pitch in and do one hour of hard-core housework each day, on top of regular pick-up. That should keep us from living in a total pig sty. I don’t know how much of the deep cleaning can fit in that hour, but that will be my goal. Right now I think my idea will be to focus on a certain area or chore each day, just to keep up. I hope our budget will be able to grow and allow us someone to come in once a week and do some of the heavy-duty cleaning and ironing.

So for today, we spent the morning getting Mt. St. Laundry folded and completely put away. Quite an endeavor, but the girls are getting much better at helping – they now sort and fold all the socks and their underwear. As soon as we do one day move, I’m going to start them learning the towels and wash cloths next, since those are the next easiest part of the task. One thing I am trying to teach them is that when we all work together, we can get more done more quickly, and then we can move on to more fun things!

For the rest of the day: I do have a client call this afternoon, so I plan to spend some time writing and catching up on blog work, and paperwork like balancing the checkbook and paying bills, that sort of thing. (All I seem to be behind on at the moment.) And while the girls are playing nicely together right now, I’m going to take a break and get back into my devotional study which I am really looking forward to. Might as well look at the positive of this “limbo-ness:” more time without a plan or schedule means I can devote time to things I want and need to do, like prayer and study time with God!

Praying God’s Word: Believing God

19 Monday Mar 2012

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Forgive me for this being a shorter post! I have just fifteen minutes before waking the girls and getting us all ready to go to Ballet Magnificat tonight! I’m very excited, they have no idea and they are going to LOVE it.

Today I started the next chapter of Beth Moore’s Praying God’s Word: Breaking Free from Spiritual Strongholds, which is entitled, “Overcoming Unbelief.”

This past week I have felt more open and my heart feels “softer” to God’s nudges. And I have felt less overburdened and “heavy” as well. All of this has led me to just fall at Christ’s feet in silent praise, because there are no words that can fulfill what my heart wants to say.  So, I continue to sit and worship there before Him, trusting Him to understand and make words of the song I don’t even yet know how to sing!

I’m not sure if it’s because of the progress and prayer from last week, or if this chapter is just “timely,” but this chapter of “Overcoming Unbelief” is meaty. Meaty with a side of potatoes and gravy – meaty. I thought I could get through it during one nap time session, and well, there is just no way. Too much to take in, ponder, study, and review verses. Beth (look at me call her by her first name!) has twenty full pages of verse/prayers here! So far, I’ve copied down about ten pages for me to print and scratch my thoughts all over.

So, while I work on this chapter this upcoming week, I would appreciate your prayers. I BELIEVEGod is trying to speak His Word to me. I BELIEVEit is the time for me to be released from some serious strongholds in my life and I am ready. So please, pray for me. Pray for openness, discernment, and understanding. And also, please pray for me because I’ve noticed that Satan’s attacks on me have intensified tenfold these past two-three weeks. So far, he has tried attacking my mind, my marriage, and my health. Satan is fighting my freedom, but is for this freedom that Christ has already set us free! (Gal. 5:1) (Underlining emphasis is mine.)

Okay, I hear the rugrats rustling around, which means my time here is done. Let me leave you with a few quick quotes from this chapter:

“Believing God is never more critical than when we have strongholds that need to be demolished. Believing God is also rarely more challenging.”

“You must believe Him. Believe He can do what He says He can do. Believe you can do what He says you can do. Believe who He says He is. And believe you are who He says you are.”

“God wields incomparably great power for those who choose to believe. Read it again! (Ephesians 1:18-20) . . . God applies the same power to our need that He exerted when He raised Christ from the dead. . . . Believe Him, and when you don’t, cry out earnestly, “Help me overcome my unbelief!” 

Praying God’s Word

12 Monday Mar 2012

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I’ve begun a study on Beth Moore’s Praying God’s Word: Breaking Free from Spiritual Strongholds this past week. I had the book sitting on a shelf for ages, lent it out to a friend, finally got it back, and decided to finally start reading it myself.

As you can tell from past posts on my blog, I’ve really been wrestling with  strongholds that have been revealed to me through the past year – some of which seem to be generational. I have had a great burden on my heart to break these strongholds in my own life, and also to break the chain of bondage before it starts in the next generation – my girls.

Beth Moore defines a stronghold as “anything that steals, kills, or destroys the abundant, fruitful life of a believer can be considered a stronghold of the enemy.” She also says, “Strongholds are thoughts taken captive to anything but Christ.”

The first chapter covers idolatry. “In one way or another, something else has become “god” in our lives – the object of our chief focus. . . . Until we turn from our idols to the one true God, we will never find liberty, for ‘where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom’ (2 Cor. 3:17). One missing link in almost every captive life is the spirit of God’s lordship.”

In the introduction, she talks about “believers who live in daily defeat.” Oh, how I have struggled and fought and battled and wearied over that daily defeat! I have this running commentary recording going in circles in my mind, which I now realize is not “me” but Satan using these strongholds to pull me under and drown me. That broken record player actually became a stronghold of its own, because “as long as our minds rehearse the strength of our stronghold more than the strength of our God, we will be impotent.”

And impotent I felt – through prayer, business, physical health, everything. It was as if the more I tried to do anything the more defeated I became, until that recording became so loud and so insistent that I could hardly hear anything else.

Last week was BAD. BAD. I knew that I’ve been under attack for months and my husband was under attack for months, but it wasn’t until last week that I truly understood how bad it really was. Is it a coincidence that the attacks amplified exponentially last week, when I finally committed to begin this study? Or that God opened my eyes to see depth of the battleground? No, I think not.

This was my process of re-writing these verses into my own words. I used Bible.com to copy and paste each verse into Word. I read through them, highlighting and underlining parts of verses that struck me. After a while I realized that several things seemed to be repeating and a certain chord started to strike out at me, when I went to underline each verse, which led to a personal revelation: I had been blaming God for things he “allowed” to happen to me!

This is a sin that was holding me back from God. My hubris – that I had done everything right, so I didn’t deserve ______. Why would he do ______ to me? I had been trying to suppress it, but there it was. And as soon as I allowed it to lay out in the open, figure out why it was there, and deal with it, I was able to ask forgiveness.

Besides, as I’ve told a friend before, we deservedeath. We have no true rights under God. It is only because of his forgiveness and Christ’s blood that we are anything at all, and he made us adopted sons at that!

Below is my compilation of verses taken from this chapter. I’ve reworded them only just slightly to personalize the passages. I do love how they all came together. I plan to review this verses every day and pray over them. Perhaps taping them up on my mirror as a reminder.

(From the New Living Translation.)

Lord, You are a warrior, Yahweh is Your name! (Ex 15:13) My help comes from You; You who made the heavens and the earth! (Psalm 121:2) Those who fight against You, Oh Lord, will be shattered. You thunder against them from heaven, You judge throughout the earth. (1 Sam. 2:10) Lord, You do not give Your glory to anyone else, nor share Your praise with carved idols. (Isa. 42:8) You alone are God. You preserve us all. (Neh. 9:6)

Yours, O Lord, is the greatness, the power, the glory, the victory, and the majesty. Everything in the heavens and on the earth is Yours, O Lord, and this is Your Kingdom. I cannot see the whole scope of Your work from beginning to end. (Ecc. 3:11) God, You are greater than I can understand. (Job 36:26) Your thoughts are nothing like my thoughts, Lord, and Your ways are far beyond anything I could imagine. (Isa. 55:8-9)

You alone are my Rock and Salvation, my Fortress where I will not be shaken. (Ps. 62:6) You are the Lord and there is no other. (Isa.45:18) Christ, You are the visible image of the invisible God. You hold all creation together. (Col. 115:17) Everything You do reveals Your Glory and majesty. Your righteousness never fails. Ps. 111:2-4

God, you are not man – you do not lie. You are not human, so you do not change Your mind. You have never spoken and failed to act. You have never promised and not carried it through. (Num. 23:19) For Your Word holds true and we can trust in everything You do. Truly, You do not do wrong. You do not twist justice. (Job 34:12-15) All You do is just and good, and all Your commandments are trustworthy. You are forever true, to be obeyed faithfully and with integrity. (Ps. 111:7-8) Lord, You are righteous in everything You do. (Psalm 145:17)

You are the faithful God who keeps your covenant for a thousand generations and lavishes Your unfailing love on those who love You and obey Your commands. (Deut. 7:9) You love what is just and good. Your unfailing love fills the earth. (Psalm 33:45)

I will not tremble, I will not be afraid. Did You not proclaim Your purposes for me long ago?  (Isa. 44:8)  You are the One who says, “You are my people.” (Isa. 51:16) First you predicted my rescue, then you saved me, and proclaimed it to the world. (Isa. 43:10-12) You know the plans You have for me. They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give me a future and a hope. (Jer. 29:11)

I am your servant. I have been chosen to know you, believe in you, and understand that You above are God. (Isa. 43:12) Yet, my human hands can’t serve Your needs because You have no needs. You give life and breath to everything and You satisfy every need. (Acts 17:25)

I am Your witness: is there any other God? No, there is no other Rock – not one! (Isa. 44:8) You are the Rock, Your deeds are perfect. Everything You do is just and fair. (Deut. 32:4) Lord, You always keep your promises. (Ps. 145:13) I can never escape Your Spirit! I can never get away from Your presence! Everywhere I go, Your hand will guide me and your strength will support me. (Ps. 139:7-10) And You have put Your words in my mouth and hidden me safely in Your hand. (Isa. 51:16) Whom have I in heaven but you? I desire you more than anything on the earth. (Isa. 73:25) I adore You; You’re the One over all things. (1 Chron. 29:11)

I know there is only one God, You, and I live for You. (1 Cor. 8:6) I know the greatness of You, Lord – that my God is greater than any other God. (Ps. 135:5) O Lord my God, You have performed many wonders for me. Your plans for me are too numerous to list. You have no equal. (Psalm 40:5) You give power to me when I am weak and strength to me when I am powerless. When I trust in You, Lord, I will find new strength. (Isa. 40:29,31) Let me be thankful and please You by worshipping You with holy fear and awe. (Heb. 12:28) And your Sun of Righteousness will rise with healing in His Wings for me and those that fear Your name.  And I will go free, leaping with joy. (Mal 4:2)

Lord, You have always been my home. Forever, You are my God. (Psalm 90:1-2) I make this choice to love you, O Lord my God, obeying You and committing myself firmly to You. This is the key to my life. (Deut. 30:20)

 

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First Things First – Update

12 Monday Mar 2012

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I wanted to follow-up on last week’s “First Things First” post.

I’ve created some templates to help me get organized with my blog writing. Of course, I have yet to use them, so I’ve got to play around with them a bit and tweak them until I get everything “perfect.” Once I get them the way that I want them, I’m going to print them out and take them over to Staples or Office Max and get them bound together, like a “real” organizer. Heck, maybe I will even put a pretty cover on it, LOL!

I also thought quite a bit about how to get my days “in priority.” And I had a bit of a lightbulb moment: If I want to start “living in priority,” shouldn’t I start teaching the girls and modeling that for them, too? And if we’re going to do that, shouldn’t our homeschool work reflect how we want them to live their life? Heck, isn’t that why we started homeschooling in the first place?

It was such forehead, slapping, “Duh!” moment. Sometimes I wonder why God doesn’t ever despair of our dimwitted-ness, you know?

So, I have decided to rearrange our school routines. Instead of our Bible work getting pushed to the side and shuffled through at the end, we are now going to spend Monday morning on Bible-related activities. Only after all of this “work” is done will we move on to regular school work.

This morning went a bit long, as I finally finished up a few straggling ideas that I had run out of time for in the past. I added in several practice activities to start learning our new Bible verse for the week, and we started learning our new Bible song for the week. We did several related craft projects, which helped keep the girls’ interests (and I will post about them soon, I hope). We created our prayer basket, our study of Esther to finish up our celebration of Purim last week along with stick puppets to help us tell the story, and finished decorating our lapbooks all the way from Valentine’s, so I could declare those done. Little things that had been lagging and lagging and I feel so much better I don’t have to think about them any more.

In between and any time I could catch a few minutes while the girls were coloring or doing worksheets, I sat over at the table and tried to work on my own devotional study, that I had tried to get through all last week. I snuck two minutes here and five minutes there, but I’ve finally gotten some really productive progress made and will be able to blog about that this afternoon.

So, this style I think will work well for us. I need to re-tweak my school organizing grid a little bit more, and some of the normal “Monday” work like science might have to get pushed to Tuesdays on days where our Bible time goes too long. But that flexibility is why homeschool is so great, right? And I feel much more comfortable pushing science back because Bible went too long instead of the other way around.

New Firsts I’m Focusing On This Week:

1. First of Our School Day

I’m also going to push Bible time to first in our routine. I usually do math first while my daughter’s focus and patience was the best, but again, that’s not giving God our “best,” but “leftovers.” So, hoping to model “living in priority” for our girls will hopefully teach them by osmosis about putting first things first,andwill give me a chance to put devotional time first as well, even if it’s “child-focused” devotional time and not always “personal” devotional time. Plus, I’m hoping that making devotional time my focus on Mondays, that I will be able to set it up so that I can snatch time during the day each day to do my own devotional time. We’ll have to see how it works out this week.

2. First of the Morning

I am NOT a morning person. Just not. In fact, I have a running joke that there is no point in me going to the early service at Church, because God doesn’t speak to me before 10am. He knows I’m not really awake, so He doesn’t even waste His time!

I don’t know about you guys, but my first new moments each morning feel like they are begin with blearily peering through half-open eyes while trying to break up girly squabble and getting my turn in the bathroom. It takes no time at all to start my day in a cranky, stressed-out, frazzled mom-mood, wondering where the coffee is and why does morning come so fast? It is not the way I want to start my day each day, because it colors my day with those colors the rest of the day.

So, I’m going to attempt to implement a new habit this week – by giving God my first few moments of each day before the insanity starts. At the very least, I can review a quick verse and say a short prayer, even if it is just, “Lord, please help me make it through the day.”

So, that’s my update.

First Things First

05 Monday Mar 2012

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I’ve really been thinking about the concept of “firsts” and “giving the first fruits to God” lately.

Yes, we give the first of our income as a form of tithe to our church. (Basically, I write that check or pay that online first! Maybe a little legalistic, but I think the physical action of doing that before paying anything else is a good spiritual discipline.)

There are a lot of firsts in our daily lives though, aren’t they? First day of the week, first day of the month, first day of the year. First child, first kiss, first cup of coffee, first breaths and thoughts of the morning. Quite a lot of firsts! And if you really start to think about giving all of your first fruits to God, it can really change — everything.

Besides redeeming your all for the glory of God, I do believe there is another potential positive to come out of this practice – ORDER.

God is a God of order and not of chaos, right? So, when I began to think about making a conscious decision to give Him my firsts, I had to be a bit organized about it. And, even now, it IS a conscious action, and never an unconscious one. Kind of how God likes it, I guess. But what I’ve noticed is the act of giving God my firsts brings order through everything else.

Think about the joke, “you make all your mistakes on your first child.” Gosh, how many times I’ve thought that about myself, and my oldest is only five! How much more does that oldest and firstborn need the extra grace of God to cover all our many parental screwups! Being “the youngest” myself, I kind of bristle at the idea that just because of birth order, a child is not “given over to God” or that any one child “can redeem the rest.” Still kinda dealing with that concept to be honest. But I do know the fact the oldest is a role model for the younger ones is important, and older siblings have a large influence on younger ones. I see this reflected in our homeschooling right now as well, as our three-year-old is mainly along for the ride as I truly homeschool the older one, but it’s amazing how much she soaks in, just from observing and participating peripherally.

But back to my point. I think part of my spiritual discipline this year is to investigate this concept of “firsts” in my own life, and focus on how to give all of my “firsts” back to God.

“Redeeming everything we have and are and do so that everything can be redeemed and be fruitful back to God.” – Jan 3, 2011

To that end, for the rest of the year, I’m going to try to focus on my firsts – first day of the month, first day of the week, etc. I’ve been resisting too much structure mainly because my artsy-fartsy side just rebels with too much regimentation, but my possibly-ADHD/life-filled-with-chaos side of me really appreciates order! Sounds insane, right? I desperately need the order, but hate being told what to do exactly when. So, I’m trying not to take this overboard, because I’d never end up doing it anyway.

1. To begin – this blog. I’ve been thinking about it for a while, and have finally come up with a routine (don’t say schedule! don’t say schedule!) that I think I can feel comfortable with AND actually accomplish.

Mondays – First Things First: All about Order, Priorities, and Living Life in God’s Will

Tuesdays – Reviews and Recommendations: My Opinions on Products, Books, and Just about Anything Else

Wednesdays – Walk with Him Wednesdays: Spiritual Musings link-up with A Holy Experience

Thursdays – Practical Tips: Whether It’s Organizational Or Whatever.

Fridays – Homeschool: Plus Link-ups with Homeschool Mother’s Journal and MFW Homeschool Highlights.

Weekends – Saturdays and Sundays Will Be Extra, or Possibly Random Topics That Fit Nowhere Else.

Whew! That felt good to write down! Of course, I don’t expect to have something every single day of the week, but at least having this ROUTINE will give my mind and this blog some semblance of order.

2. Next – the First Day of the Month.

I’ve always used the first day of each month as my kind of “check-in” date. I will update my goals journal and make my plan for the rest of the month. Update my calendar. Upload pictures, edit them, and upload them to share with family and friends. Except that’s not really working for me any more. I’m not using my “goals journal” this year, and am instead blogging about my experience here. And I’m no longer doing the “once a month massive email with 50 pictures to everyone I know.” Heck, most of those folks are on Facebook, and if they are not, they ought to be, LOL! (Mom, if you’re reading this, yes, I am talking about you!)

But still, I need my routine. I feel like I’m floundering without that 1st of the month anchor. So, on the first of the month, I’m not sure what it will look like, but I will take some time that day, and spend time in prayer for the month past and the month going forward. I will pray for God’s Will and continued movement in my life, and then and only then, review my calendar to update it and create my plan for the month. So that living my life for God, and giving him the first fruits will continue to be a conscious decision on my part each month.

3. First Day of the Week.

This is always in my Grand Plan That Never Seems to Happen. (You moms know exactly what I’m talking about, right?) In my ideal, dream-world, I would get ready effortlessly, the children would disappear for a few hours (through no work on my own part, LOL) and I could sit down with a cup of coffee alone in the perfectly clean house and quietly start my week with a non-rushed devotional and prayer-time, write my spiritual journalings down and then go on with the rest of my week in focus. 

Did you get as much of a laugh out of that as I just did?

Even this morning, I tried my darndest to even keep the girls occupied so I could get my Bible Study notes in order so I could even begin! Sadly, what with computers malfunctioning, printers refusing to print, and all electronics just NOT LIKING ME TODAY, it took until 6pm for that to happen. And I know you can relate.

I always like to do the big homeschool work push on Monday mornings, so we can goof off later in the week, but I might have to change my natural impulses here. Because even school should not come before prayer time with God. And I really need that “getting set up for the week/starting my week off right time” or I flail about the rest of the week.

I have no idea how this is actually going to happen or what it’s going to look like, but here and now I make a conscious decision to give the first day of the week and especially some time that morning to alone time with God. And yes, I’m sure there will be many weeks where I will end up late at night on the computer, like I am tonight, trying to catch up!

I know there are more “firsts,” but that’s all I can handle for now! Thinking on it, I’m actually kind of excited to what this will end up being and how it will transform our family. May God use this year to bless and metamorphasize my family and yours!

Yes, Put First Things First, But First . . .

11 Wednesday Jan 2012

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I’ve been reading 31 Days to Build a Better Spouse and have committed to spending the month of January praying for my husband.

At first I was doing great. It’s a simple read, and a simple little daily task.

One day we had a little “You’re speaking Man-Language and I’m speaking Woman-Language” spat. Nothing really.

And that night I realized, after picking up my e-reader, that I hadn’t prayed for my husband in almost three days. How in the world did it happen so fast?

Well, it’s a matter of putting “first things first.” Every single day. Over and over and over and over. That’s the part that always trips me up.

Right now, in our lives there is just so much going on, that even what we know to be first, what we know to be right, what we know to be best, doesn’t get done in the priority we know we have committed to. Tasks must still be done. Our move. Homeschooling our girls. Preparing for the packers. Making dinner. Laundry. And oh, throw in a small surgery for me and a week or so of bedrest in there.

Commitment is always so hard to reconcile with the daily calendar and to-do list isn’t it? Sometimes I feel like I’m just “fitting” my faith life in, instead of letting everything I do be influenced and permeated by my faith. I ask others how do you do it, and the stock answer of “putting it on my calendar” or “scheduling a time”, sounds great and all, but really, let’s face it. It doesn’t work! If y’all could just see my calendar, color-coded, long lists organized to the nth degree. (I am not exaggerating.)

It’s so much easier to say, “Tomorrow, I’ll ________” or “When I _________, then I can __________.” And mean it. Truly mean it. And then allow the defeat and self-condemnation swallow you up when of course it doesn’t happen.

On Sunday, we heard two different groups of missionaries speak at Church, and I really felt the need to help sponsor children to attend school in Honduras. The missionary mentioned how she was able to use Bibles in school, to teach the children English! How awesome is that? And yet when I came home and balanced the checkbook, I thought, “Oh, maybe when we pay off that debt we can afford the extra $30-$40 a month.” And once again I realized I was falling in that same “if/then” trap. 

So, no. I am not going to let that happen to me this year. I choose to complete what I start. I will put God first. I will put relationships before the task-master to-do list. I will reach out to others and seek for ways to use my purpose.

I will stop everything I’m doing, even writing this blog post and pray for my husband. (Realizing that yet again, I’m behind because I’ve lost track of what day it is!) What’s more important, the deadline or the “task” well done? And better still, I’d like to change my mindset because it’s not a “task” or a duty to pray for my spouse. It’s an honor.

It’s a gift that God has given us, the ability to pray for those we love.

I will not groan inwardly with the phone rings because someone has called yet again to check up on me, I will thank God for the chance to reconnect. I will look forward to those interruptions, because life happens in those interruptions.

And I will pray. I will pray for my spouse, so he can start his year off in the right place and on the right path that God has created for him this year, and I will pray for my children, that they will learn of God’s love and of God’s world, and of the place that God has created for them in this world. I will pray for all those that cross my path, because God can use that crossing to lay them on my heart at that moment.

The act of prayer, is my way of putting my wish for the movement of God in that person’s life first.

And this is the change I pray for in myself, that the movement of God happens in my own life, metamorphasizing my view until I can see like Him.

And I will see not a year filled with lists and tasks and duties, but a year filled with blessings and gifts and promises.