I doubt there’s a mom out there who hasn’t wished for more time in a day or another day in the week.
Time is certainly our limiting factor, followed closely by energy.
We want to make the most of the time we have – and that’s a good desire. But how do we do that without burning ourselves? That’s the question we all ask at some point.
Turns out, there is an answer to that question.
My new book, Simplified Organization: Learn to Love What Must Be Done, is all about the six skills of homemaking, and half of them are mental-emotional skills for a reason. We need to change our approach, our mindset, about housework before we’ll find joy and satisfaction in it – but joy and satisfaction — and traction — are totally possible, no matter how bad your attitude has been about homemaking up until this point.
Don’t miss the rest of this series:
Love the way God made time
If we feel like we’re fighting time, we’re not operating from gratitude or joy like Christian women should. God created time and He placed us in it. There were hours and days and weeks and years before man fell into sin.
God lives in eternity, outside time, but He made time for man and man to live in time. In the beginning, He called it very good.
So from the outset of our own time management, we must imitate God and follow His pattern. Time is good. We are finite, meant to operate in limited ways. While we are on this earth, we should not desire to be outside time like God.
God created time for us to work, time for us to sleep, time for us to join together in worship and rest from our work. God has a lot to say about time.
Embrace the rhythm of the week
God is the one who invented the week and designed us to live within it. When we think about how best to use our time, we should think about properly ordering our week and not just living day by day.
God created a reset button for our time and responsibilities. For six days He says, “Go, go, go!” Then, one day He says, “Stop. Enjoy.” The next day, we’re back at it, refreshed and prepared to run in the good works God has prepared for us to run in.
A weekly review is one tactic we can use to harness our week and operate within it wisely and well. A weekly review is 15-30 minutes we take to wrap our heads around where we’re at and get ourselves set up for the week to come.
One reason we’re often stressed and scrambling is our habit of flying by the seat of our pants, not looking up and assessing where we actually are and what’s about to happen. Events and responsibilities catch us off-guard. We assume we can do more than is reasonable or we neglect to assess how much time our distraction-of-choice is stealing from us.
A weekly review is a mini-pause at the end of our work stretch where we get perspective and prepare mentally for the next round. Instead of scrambling hither and thither, we’re effectively and intentionally directing our work and attention where we know it matters. When we do that, we aren’t stressed about the rest that didn’t happen.
But first, you have to know what matters. A weekly review habit gives you that perspective because it is time reserved to regain perspective in the midst of a busy life. The busyness isn’t the problem. The lack of mental preparation is the problem.
Find more about how to do a weekly review as a mom here, or listen to this podcast:
Grow your homemaking skills
Our time is something we can intentionally and effectively invest for the good of our people and the glory of God.
Tomorrow I’ll have step 5 for becoming a more skillful homemaker.
Dig deeper by getting my book, Simplified Organization: Learn to Love What Must Be Done. It’s available in paperback, on kindle, and via Audible (yes, read by me).
Make 2024 the year of embracing cheerful, competent homemaking.
Take my new 6-module course (one module per step!) Learn to Love What Must Be Done – this week lifetime access is 50% off!
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