When people ask me how I accomplish everything that I accomplish, I tell them that I live life deliberately. At any particular time of day, I am doing something on purpose. If I stop what I’m doing to talk to my child, and I end up talking to him for an hour, that was not a detour from what needed to be done. That was what needed to be done. I took that hour on purpose. My goal of deepening my relationships with my children is higher than my business. Each hour of the day, you will find me doing something on purpose, with a specific reason. This is how I live a quality life that counts for something.
Some people seem to think that leading people to Christ is the only thing that is worthwhile, and they resent having to do laundry. I’ve learned that laundry can be the center of the will of God and exactly what God wants you to be doing. If you were to go evangelize at that moment, you would be disobedient to God, and nothing good would come of it. If you think that all your mundane tasks at home count for nothing, you’re wrong. Each task is given to you by God, and you are in the center of the will of God to do those tasks well. If you neglect them, you are not being faithful with what God has given you to do.
Often life is full of small things for years, especially when you have young children. But even then, I wrote down my priorities. When my children were young, I spent every spare moment studying my Bible or reading about how to optimally teach young children. And I did not neglect my children while doing it. The hundreds of hours I spent studying early childhood has now made me knowledgeable in this field, especially in the area of cognitive development. I implemented the best ideas with my own children over the years, modifying other people’s ideas that weren’t quite right, discarding some ideas that I knew were wrong, and forming my own opinions. I was just asked to be a speaker for an Early Childhood conference this March. None of that time has gone to waste.
I did the same with organization. I studied how to maximize my time and space so that I had more time to spend on things that mattered to me. I also wanted to have more energy for my husband in the evenings, so I wanted all the mundane things to be done in the most efficient way so that it didn’t drain all my energy. I learned how to do this.
One time, years ago when I had a baby and two toddlers, I had a guest come over and watch how I conducted my day. She was astounded by how much I got accomplished. None of my day was wasted. Don’t get me wrong. Resting was part of my day. Just being with my children was part of my day. But each moment, I was deliberately choosing what I was doing.
I’m a professional mother, I told her. She was stunned for a moment, then she told me later that my statement changed the way she viewed her job as a mother. I am constantly growing and learning in the areas that God has set before me.
Choose what you will do with your time. Don’t just let it go by. Time is one of those things, that when it’s gone, it’s gone forever. You can’t get it back. Don’t live a life of regret. Do what you should be doing. Better yet, yield to God each moment and ask Him what you should be doing. And don’t proceed until you know.
