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Perfection: The Art of Time Management

March 19, 2012 in Attitude, Change, Perfection, Raising Children with 0 Comments

Time management. Enough said right? I have always been a person who manages their time and tasks right down to the tiniest detail, and then I became a mom and that particular quality has been challenged. I am sure you know what I am talking about right? Our jobs as mom are a 24 hour a day job, I literally can not have every moment of every day planned nor can I expect it to happen perfectly according to my agenda. Plus, I have to take a moment and look at the entire picture… yes I might need to dust, the folded laundry might need to be put away BUT my son also needs my attention as well when he is bringing me books to read or puzzles to put together. I have had to learn to “manage my time” so that those precious moments of reading books, finger painting and trips to the park don’t go missed. It can be easy to feel like we are not getting our jobs done as wife and mom when our attention is being pulled in nine million directions. But, that is not the case! Spend a little time putting laundry away and then dedicate all your attention to a fun book to read, save the dusting for another time. Not everything has to be done at once, take joy in the things accomplished in that day and not focus on the “failures” of what was not accomplished. Housework will always be there calling our names, how long will our children be little? Not long! Basically I think the biggest thing I have learned and would tell other moms experiencing this challenge is that “time management” as a mom is more about learning that not everything must be done right this second and that our children don’t stay little forever.

Photo Credit: Sean McGrath

Provision: Making Plans

October 17, 2011 in Faith, Patience, Perfection, Provision, Purpose with 0 Comments

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV) 

“If you want to make God laugh, tell him about your plans.” Woody Allen

We make plans. That is how we go about our daily lives. We plan what time to leave the house in the mornings, when to make dinner, what to buy at the grocery store. We plan how we want to raise our children, family vacations, finances and pretty much everything we do is based on some sort of plan. But, how many of those plans change? How many end up looking much different from what we had expected? I have heard the quote from above many times, although I never put much thought into other than thinking it was a good point. But, when you really think about it, it’s completely true. God’s vision for our life never is as we thought it would be. He always has the bigger picture in mind. I believe that we tend to think to small, looking more at the short-term aspect of things… a couple of years or so. God however sees it all, our entire life and knows the courses we will take a long the way. His plans are far better than ours, we can’t do better than what He has in store! I have to remind myself of this plenty of times because I am a planner, an organizer and perfectionist. It’s not easy to let go. I still plan, that is just part of my nature. But, I have to remember to be flexible and listen for God because there is a good chance that what I am planning may change because He has something else in store for me.

Photo Credit: Sylvia Schade

Perfection: Learning to Relax

October 11, 2011 in Blessed, Perfection with 0 Comments

“A place for everything, everything in its place.” Benjamin Franklin 

“For fast-acting relief, try slowing down.” Lily Tomlin

I am sitting next to a pile of clean clothes that are just waiting to be folded and put away. There are days where I wish the laundry would just do itself, along with the house cleaning too. I know I am not alone in this thinking. Here ‘s a funny fact about me you may not know. When my husband and I first got married I was obsessed with cleaning and having everything in its place. I have always been like that, but I think the reason it was so magnified was that we lived in a 500 square foot apartment. A place that small only takes one thing out-of-place to feel like a mess. I also loved cleaning, probably the most when we lived there because it took a total of 45 minutes to clean, and that was a deep clean too. Gradually as we have moved to bigger places things have changed. I still love a clean home, I still believe everything has a place and it should be in that place. But, the intensity of it has changed. Having a child who is at the age that he is crawling around and wanting to explore also makes it hard to have everything in its place all day long. Now I keep things picked up as we go and put away the big toys at nap time and bedtime. I think it is safe to say that my husband would tell you its a good balance now. Before I used to get flustered over the clutter, which would make me go in my crazy cleaning mode often because I couldn’t relax. That perfectionist in me just couldn’t relax if our home wasn’t just right. Now, we have a clean home, things get put up as they go and I am able to sit back and enjoy family time instead of stressing over the things still needed to be put away. We all learn these lessons as we go. I learned over the years that life is too short to be stressed and obsessed over the imperfections. Its more important to enjoy the blessings of each day.

Faith: Daily Reading

September 21, 2011 in Accountability, Faith, Perfection with 0 Comments

“Then he said to them all: ”Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” Luke 9:23 (NIV)

“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” Matthew 6:33 (NIV)

I have been doing a readying plan from Youversion for my daily devotional time. The plan I have started is the Essential 100, it’s a plan where you read 50 passages from the Old Testament and 50 from the New Testament. It’s a way to get an overview of the Bible in 100 days. Here’s the thing… when I originally started this plan I was supposed to finish it in October. Now I’m supposed to finish it in November. I love that Youversion has the option to “catch up” on missed readings, adjusting your end date so you can pick up where you left off. But, I feel bad. I should never have to use the catch up option. I should be able to follow the reading plan as it is laid out as long as I am taking time to read the Bible every day. But I am just like everyone else, we get busy and manage to allow that time of our day to be pushed to tomorrows “to-do list.” Why do I let myself do that? Of course the answer is that I am human and far from perfect. I have to make the choice daily to spend time with God no matter how busy I am. What is amazing is that He is always there waiting on me, even if I have allowed the business of life to keep me from spending that much-needed time with Him. He never stops waiting on us. He never gets up and walks out. He waits, patiently, for us to realize we need Him! I know I will never have it all perfectly figured out. I will have days when I forget to spend time in the Bible, but I just can’t stop trying, I  must always do the best I can to make it a priority. God will always be there waiting to show me more each time I open His word!

Worship Song Friday: You Are More by Tenth Avenue North

April 8, 2011 in Love, Perfection, Worship with 0 Comments

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” 2 Corinthians 5:17 (NIV)

“I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more.” Isaiah 43:25 (NIV)

I have no idea what you have gone through in your life to bring you to where you are today. We each have different past experiences, things that we are proud of and things that we regret. That is just part of life. The beauty of it all is that it doesn’t matter who we once were or the sins of our past. All that matters is that we have been made new in Him! He has given us a new life and so the person we once were no longer exists, we are a child of God! The hard part I’ll admit is that He not only forgives our past, He remembers it no more. We on the other hand will not have that luxury of forgetting, we will be our hardest hurdle to overcome. Take joy in the fact that whatever regrets you have are forgiven and forgotten by the One that truly matters. Stop torturing yourself when you have already been forgiven, and, since we cannot forget… then let’s look at our past as lessons learned. Lets us learn from our past to help the people that God has put before us!  What a way to truly worship God… by no longer torturing ourselves and truly embracing the forgiveness He gives!

 

 

You Are More by Tenth Avenue North

There’s a girl in the corner
With tear stains on her eyes
From the places she’s wandered
And the shame she can’t hide

She says, “How did I get here?
I’m not who I once was.
And I’m crippled by the fear
That I’ve fallen too far to love”

But don’t you know who you are,
What’s been done for you?
Yeah don’t you know who you are?

You are more than the choices that you’ve made,
You are more than the sum of your past mistakes,
You are more than the problems you create,
You’ve been remade.

Well she tries to believe it
That she’s been given new life
But she can’t shake the feeling
That it’s not true tonight

She knows all the answers
And she’s rehearsed all the lines
And so she’ll try to do better
But then she’s too weak to try

But don’t you know who you are?

Chorus

‘Cause this is not about what you’ve done,
But what’s been done for you.
This is not about where you’ve been,
But where your brokenness brings you to

This is not about what you feel,
But what He felt to forgive you,
And what He felt to make you loved.
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