A friend recently told me that she reads my blog (THANK YOU, by the way, to all of you who do!), and said I must be one of the busiest moms she knows. That got me thinking. (I think a lot!)
First of all, speaking strictly from a schedule standpoint, I'm not actually that busy. Since I homeschool, I don't have to be up before dawn to get the kids ready for school and off to the bus. If we're tired, we sleep late, and still manage to get our school day done, even if we get a late start. If we get behind, we catch up the next day. If we're on schedule, or even ahead, we have time for spur-of-the-moment field trips or nature days. We don't currently participate in any weekly classes, like many homeschool kids do; we have before, and probably will again, but I try to carefully consider the impact on our free time before I sign up for anything. So I do have LOTS of things to do, but I keep my schedule as flexible as possible so it doesn't FEEL so busy, and so I can decide what ranks high enough in priority to get done each day.
We have also made a deliberate choice to allow for plenty of relaxed at-home family time. On the weeks that Ken plays in the band at church, he has practice Monday evenings. Twice each month I have a Tuesday supervision group for Stephen Ministry (when I get assigned a care receiver, I'll also have one hour/week with her). Ken works days but is home by 4:30pm each day, and by lunchtime on Fridays. We attend church and Sunday school each week. Those are our only scheduled commitments. We each have a couple of other small things we do to serve at church, but they don't require us giving up additional at-home time.
I absolutely believe that there are many wonderful Christians who are eager to serve God and their fellow man, but they don't know when to say no. I've been there! I have learned the hard way that I have to take time to pray about things before I can make any kind of commitment. I think Satan LOVES a really busy Christian! If we are super busy, we won't have time to maintain our relationship with Christ, and then we aren't a problem for Satan anymore. Now, that's not to say we shouldn't serve! God cautions us not to be lazy or idle. But we need to prayerfully consider just how much we can do before we lose the ability to hear the whisper of God. He tells us in Psalm 46:10, "Be still and know that I am God." I sure don't want my Lord to get a busy signal when He wants to tell me something because I need all the wisdom I can get! And I don't ever want my prayers to become nothing more than an on-the-fly memo to God. I want meaningful conversation with the best Friend there ever was, is, or will be.
First of all, speaking strictly from a schedule standpoint, I'm not actually that busy. Since I homeschool, I don't have to be up before dawn to get the kids ready for school and off to the bus. If we're tired, we sleep late, and still manage to get our school day done, even if we get a late start. If we get behind, we catch up the next day. If we're on schedule, or even ahead, we have time for spur-of-the-moment field trips or nature days. We don't currently participate in any weekly classes, like many homeschool kids do; we have before, and probably will again, but I try to carefully consider the impact on our free time before I sign up for anything. So I do have LOTS of things to do, but I keep my schedule as flexible as possible so it doesn't FEEL so busy, and so I can decide what ranks high enough in priority to get done each day.
We have also made a deliberate choice to allow for plenty of relaxed at-home family time. On the weeks that Ken plays in the band at church, he has practice Monday evenings. Twice each month I have a Tuesday supervision group for Stephen Ministry (when I get assigned a care receiver, I'll also have one hour/week with her). Ken works days but is home by 4:30pm each day, and by lunchtime on Fridays. We attend church and Sunday school each week. Those are our only scheduled commitments. We each have a couple of other small things we do to serve at church, but they don't require us giving up additional at-home time.
I absolutely believe that there are many wonderful Christians who are eager to serve God and their fellow man, but they don't know when to say no. I've been there! I have learned the hard way that I have to take time to pray about things before I can make any kind of commitment. I think Satan LOVES a really busy Christian! If we are super busy, we won't have time to maintain our relationship with Christ, and then we aren't a problem for Satan anymore. Now, that's not to say we shouldn't serve! God cautions us not to be lazy or idle. But we need to prayerfully consider just how much we can do before we lose the ability to hear the whisper of God. He tells us in Psalm 46:10, "Be still and know that I am God." I sure don't want my Lord to get a busy signal when He wants to tell me something because I need all the wisdom I can get! And I don't ever want my prayers to become nothing more than an on-the-fly memo to God. I want meaningful conversation with the best Friend there ever was, is, or will be. 
