Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Ordered

There are two times throughout the year where I feel the most compelled to assess my life:  January and my birthday.  January is already behind us, but I just had a birthday.  Now is the time to look at what is working and what is not.  As a result I have a new "routine" for myself and for my children.

I have come up with ideas and tried to implement them a couple of times throughout the last few months, but I just kept feeling like it was not working out.  Finally I realized that perhaps I was trying to come up with my own plan instead of asking the Lord for His.  Aha!  Why didn't I think of that in the beginning?  Well I think I did think of it, but then maybe I got ahead of Him.  I can be a great planner, but at times I fall short in the actually follow through.  I really dislike this, and I am working on changing that with His help.

So, today was the first day of our new "routine," and I think it went really well.  I am calling it a routine because some flexibility is not only needed, but also desired.  I have small children, and life does not always fall in line anyway, so flexibility is a great motto.  I want my children to learn to be responsible and diligent in ordering their responsibilities, but also flexible and adaptable when God has other plans.  Otherwise it is all too easy to get bent out of shape when someone calls or comes to the door or needs more from me/us/etc then the plan alloted.  This is why I say "routine" and not "schedule."

I wrote out all that I have on my proverbial plate, picked which to do when, put in place the things that are always the same, and built from there.  I don't want to miss anything, so this was very helpful to me.  I am a list person anyway, so it was actually quite refreshing (don't laugh).  I prayed before, during, and after, because I really want this to be a plan that works for all of us according to what the Lord has in mind.  I also wanted my husband to approve - after all it is my joy to call him my "boss."

As a result, today was a day filled with prayer for our church, devotions - alone and with each other, exercise, play, learning, reading, eating a handful of times, cleaning, laundry, naps for the little ones, helping out a friend, phone calls, writing, and blogging.  Now I actually have time to relax with my husband and get to bed at a good time (I have been staying up way too late!).  I am very thankful and very excited.

I am so incredibly thankful that God is so ordered.  Look at everything around you.  Everything He made is so ordered and so creative.  I can see how refreshing it is to have order, as well.  I know we won't always have days that are ordered.  This is actually good at times because we grow through those not-so-ordered and not-at-all-ordered times.  However, on the rest of the days, I really desire to be a good steward of my time and efforts and fulfill the roles given to me by a God of order who longs for me to enjoy every moment of life and the precious ones He has placed in it.

Thank You, Lord.

Hopefully this plan of order will work...until the next time I need to change it.

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