Time
I miss writing… There are so many thoughts spinning around
inside my head that need to be processed. For some reason writing really helps
me work through things. It’s crazy how busyness can take over your life and
crowd out the things you really want to do. I have found myself longing to do
things I love – unhurried. Rushing around and always running behind feels like
it has become my life again lately. How did this happen?! Procrastination has
always been a major struggle for me, but I’m realizing lately as I watch
Nathaniel play, eat, and sleep, that I don’t want him growing up with a Mommy
who was always hurrying from one thing to the next. I don’t want him to believe
that the main problem in the world or his life is that there is not enough
time.
I read an excerpt from a book called “Lies Women Believe” by
Nancy Leigh Demoss a few months ago. It said one of the main lies we believe
about priorities is that “There is not enough time in a day to accomplish what
I need to”. When I read this, I realized I definitely believe this lie, because
I said to myself “This must be a misprint because that statement is true”. J
Nancy goes onto say that God is the creator of time and that He DOES give us
enough time in a day to accomplish HIS purposes. She said that if we literally
don’t have enough time to get everything done that we absolutely need to, then
we are doing too much and adding to what God intends for us to be doing. This
was extremely convicting to me and I spent a lot of time praying through and
re-prioritizing how I use time.
Things were better for a while… I found myself doing a lot
of meaningful things, yet still having time to sleep, exercise, eat well, pray
and study Scripture, and relax a little. Don’t think too much of me though – I
think this great balance lasted all of two weeks or so… J I’ve now found myself
stretched thin once again. I heard a pastor speak the other day about
priorities and he said that when you have piles of things all over your house
that need attention, then you’re probably trying to do too much. Ouch.
I talked to my sister on the phone today about my difficulty
with time management and procrastination, and she was talking about how one of
her college courses classified people as either “task oriented” or “people
oriented”. She described how both have many positive and negative aspects. I’m
naturally much more people oriented, and often put tasks off to spend time with
people (which can be fine in moderation). However, over the past several years
I have also developed a love for marking things off a task list and feeling
best about myself if I can accomplish (or attempt to accomplish) a ridiculous
number of things in a day’s time. So in summary, I sometimes tend toward the
extremes and problems of both types of people. J
All this to say, I’m working on time management /
prioritizing in the midst of this crazy busy season of life. We are leaving
next Wed for a much-anticipated week of vacation! We will return the following
Tuesday and then leave the very next day for a month in Kenya. I’m really
looking forward to having some time away to rest, re-connect as a family, spend
time with the Lord, read, write, and pray through many of the things filling my
heart and mind these days. Jason will be working the whole time we are in
Kenya, but Nathaniel and I should have a lot of downtime I think.
We greatly appreciate prayers for safety, learning how to
travel with a baby, re-connecting with people in Kenya that we had to leave so
urgently last time, wisdom for upcoming decisions, and rest in God’s
sovereignty over it all.
Meridith
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