I’ve been living by the school calendar my whole life. And on the school calendar, September is the beginning of the new year. Each year, as September rolls around once again, I vow to “get organized” and refocus my efforts to get control of my little corner of the world.
I think I can hear God giggling.
So this year, on Labor Day, I spent some time with my fancy calendar on my Mac…which automatically syncs with my phone. From my phone, I run my little corner of the world. I read recently that there is some value in doing things at the same time every day, so I scheduled my mornings with the things that I see as priorities in my life. Once Brooke leaves for school at 6:45 each morning, I am scheduled to seize the day in this fashion:
7-8 Prayer/Study time
8-9 Exercise
9-10 Shower/ pick up around the house
As you can see, by 10 a.m. each day, I will have nurtured mind, body and spirit and taken care of my lovely family by caring for our home. By 10 a.m., I will be ready to get out there and face the world. This new plan to tackle the world was to begin on Tuesday of this week.
Well, maybe next week.
On Tuesday, I got a good start. I got up, got Brooke off to her first day of 11th grade with a packed lunch and a smile. Of course, since I have been sleeping in all summer and my brain was used to waking up at 8 instead of 6, I’m pretty sure I slept through most of my reading and prayer time. However, I did do it and, as always, was blessed by any time I spend with God. He is happy to see me, even if I am sleepy.
I was supposed to exercise next. The problem was, I also was scheduled to meet some friends for coffee at 10 and then go to the Lamb Center at 1:00 and so I would need to shower first and well… the problem was my hair was already clean.
You can see my dilemna.
I had showered late in the day on Monday and it takes time to dry my hair and my hair was already clean. I sweat a lot when I exercise…if I exercised, I would HAVE to wash my hair. So, if I exercised in my scheduled time slot, I would be wasting a perfectly good head of clean hair. And that just seemed wrong.
So I checked Facebook instead. Then I got ready and went to have coffee with some wonderful friends with my already clean hair. I then went to the Lamb Center and talked about manna and God’s abundant providence with some other wonderful friends. Later that night, having already utilized my clean hair sufficiently, I did yoga.
Wednesday was going to be a whole new day; kick off for the new schedule! However, my husband came home from work on Tuesday with a 101 fever. So I slept poorly in the guest room that night. After Brooke left for school on Wednesday, I went back to bed until 9:00. Woke up to find my sweet husband awake and feeling better, so I had coffee with him until 10:30. Did get in a work out later in the morning, but mostly threw out the schedule for the day since he was there and distracting me from my new sense of purpose and focus.
So, now it is Thursday. I think I am starting to feel a little more awake. I did indeed have a lovely time of study and prayer this morning. Hopefully, God found me to be a bit more interesting conversationalist this time….at least I was conscious. Haven’t made it to exercise yet, mostly because I had to brag about the Cowboys win on Facebook first. I chose Tony Romo as my fantasy football QB and he scored me 23 fantasy points last night….so I’m feeling quite self satisfied about my football prowess. Even though Steve will probably take credit for it if I win my league this year.
So, what’s my point in sharing this sad tale of best laid plans and my constant distraction from my goals?
I don’t know, but it makes me laugh. Life is messy and wonderful and sometimes it does not obey my attempts to tame it. Kids and husbands need care and time and attention. I’m so grateful that I am here and available to provide that care most of the time. Friends need time and care and attention. I want to be here to provide that too. I know there are some things I need to do to take care of me….to fill my cup so that I have something to give. To breathe in those things that give me life and strength. To feed my soul by drawing near to God and His word. To take care of my body so that I can physically be here for as long as God has plans for me. To be around friends that encourage me and remind me that I am not alone in this journey. Those things ARE important and I will neglect them, if I don’t schedule them and make them a priority.
But I’ve known me for 48 years now. I am easily distracted by something shiny, so I have to continue to take myself by the hand and gently remind me of what is important TODAY. As I have gotten older, I have also learned to not take myself too seriously. I don’t respond well to stern reprimands and finger shaking. Most days, I get done what needs to get done and, if I don’t, then I put it on the list for tomorrow. And most days, that is good enough.
So, maybe I’ll try the new schedule again next week. I still like the idea of getting those important things done first, so that I’m available to do my other “stuff” in the afternoons. Like write blog entries! Of course, today it seemed important to do that now instead of exercise. Plus, I once again have clean hair and I have a lunch date with a special friend! 🙂
