Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Priorities

The first thing I hear when I wake up is usually Mr. Adventure closing the closet door after he grabs his towel from the hamper. This lets me know he is headed to the shower and it's time for me to get up and make him breakfast. Most of the time I cook up some eggs or toast him a bagel. 

After a kiss on the cheek he leaves with his scrambled egg wrap or bagel or whatever, and I sit down to read my e-mail and proof-read my blog post for the day. I'm such a terrible speller that usually I don't even catch many errors, but at least I make an attempt.
Then I try to convince myself to exercise. This can take 5 minuets to...never, sadly. I really feel motivated to exercise more when I look in the mirror and think about what I want out of life, but when it comes time to turn on the DVD and get to work, I am seriously lacking.

After this I shower and eat my own breakfast, and get to work on knitting, sewing, completing etsy things, and/or blog-post-writing until lunch. At lunch I take a break to check comments on my blog and read my favorite blogs. Then I usually do some chores around the house while listening to the radio or to the Bible.

Eventually the day just gets away from me. Sometimes I've created things, and sometimes I haven't. Sometimes I buy groceries and make it to the post office and take out the smelly trash or pick up my husbands socks and wash his dirty clothes or hang my own up where they belong in the closet or even visit a friend.

And I love my life. I really do. But I still struggle with getting my priorities straight. I'm selfish. I'm me-orientated.

It's usually halfway through the day that I realize I haven't even thought about God, much less cracked open my bible. I'll do it later, I think, because my hands are full of yarn or food or underwear that needs folding or there is a text to answer or a friend to go downtown with or a menu to plan.

And sometimes I do get to hastily flip through some pages and pray. I try to be sincere about it, but often my heart is not in the right place, or even in the right state of mind. I'm distracted by my to-do list. By my wants and my desires and the desires of my husband. By shiny things at Target.

I want to get my priorities straight. I am praying that God will give me a longing for his word and for a quiet time with Him, to learn and grow and become more like Him, and a heart to help others before myself.

And that is what I learned today.

10 comments:

Rachel G said...

Yes, making a schedule and determining what you consider priorities vs. what you actually spend the most time on can be very enlightening. I've always been the kind of "morning" person that if I don't get all of my "tasks" or priorities, serving others, studying done in the morning...I'll be lazy to do it by the time 5:00 rolls around. So I make it a priority to work hard in the morning because I know that's the easiest time for me to not make excuses.

PopChampagne said...

it's good to have some down time but definitely need balance and setting priorities. I've been struggling with that too. Last night I spent 2 hours playing Candy Crush on my phone instead of cook and clean, and now today I have no lunch for work LOL. I definitely need to start cracking the whip on myself!

Kristin said...

I know what you mean! I am a very selfish person, and I hate that. And I have been so inconsistent with reading my Bible and praying this year. I still think I haven't quite adjusted from being finished with school (even though this is my second full year of it). Ever since I finished college, I'm not very good about making the most of my free days.

Beth Ewing said...

I just started using this print-out daily schedule and it's helped to focus more! You may find it perfect for your needs too. :) And ps, I can comment on your blog again! http://www.storylineblog.com/storyline-productivity-schedule.pdf

Deanna Fike said...

this is exactly what i needed to read. i have such a hard time focusing. i know what my priorities are, but sometimes i have a hard time motivating myself to stay on track.

Jane Eyre said...

Oooh, I definitely feel this way. And the bad thing is...the more time I have the worse I am at prioritizing it seems. I'm very guilty of the same thing. Thanks for sharing! (PS: I like your pie chart illustration ;) )

Carolynn said...

hey, this looks awesome!

Carolynn said...

haahhaa, Candy Crush. I got to like level 45 and could NEVER beat it. And got annoyed that they only let you try like every 3 hours. I deleted it. Hate that game! they made it SO HARD.

Sybil @ Peace it all Together said...

I was just thinking about this topic the other day...how pathetic it is that I need to schedule my unscheduled time, so that I spend more than just mere moments with God. You are not alone in your struggle. :)

Belle Vierge said...

So, we all have our own ways to connect to God and the Bible. What has helped me be more on track is a little different than what I was taught as The Way to Be a Good Christian and Have Quiet Time (TM). I like to read books in one or two sittings, so reading just a single chapter from a devotional has never worked well for me. BUT following Christian bloggers has been a great way for me to read part of the Bible, learn different interpretations of scripture, and see how to apply the Bible to my daily life. I know that using the Internet to connect with God is unexpected, but I've grown so much as a Christian by reading Christian blogs. It gives me the chance to discover multiple perspectives and engage with other Christians in real time, all on a daily basis!