Friday, May 17, 2013

A call to Balance

I went to moms group on Wednesday at church and it was about keeping your schedule more open not committing to too much - even if the things are good things we can burn out when we take our focus off Jesus. It's so funny because this message of course isn't a new one, but surprisingly a message heard before in a different season of life hit me in a new way in this season.

There are always different seasons in life where commitments need to increase and decrease but I do think God gave me a slow month of May and June - one birth in the beginning of May and one coming up at the end of June so I could focus more on my family and regain some balance in my life. I went from barely surviving and keeping my house just picked up enough to pass to last night pulling everything out of my pantry to make it look attractive to buyers when we get it put on the market next month.

One thing that hit me hard on Wednesday was the different approaches to TV watching that my husband and I have. I grew up on the mission field where tv shows were Inspector Gadget watched every few months when a new tape (yes tape) was sent over in the mail from the US where my Aunt Michelle had so lovingly recorded as many episodes as she could. We would watch them over and over until they were memorized but that really didn't take long. And because the tv was a solid 1/2 hour drive away at the main center, mostly we played outside with our friends. My husband grew up with the TV being on most of the time, and so hopefully as we journey this path together we can create a nice balance between the two.

That being said, it is much easier to move to the side of too much TV than stay on the side of none at all. We have a TV in our bedroom and our daughter although she sleeps in her own room (she is two) she will wake up around 6:45 or 7am and want to climb in bed with us. Since neither my husband or I are ready to get up quite yet, we have been turning on the TV to give us 15 more minutes of sleep. It had been bothering me for some time that this was our routine especially since I felt like it slipped into our day more regularly then - while I made breakfast I would watch a show, then while she napped and I did chores I would watch a show and so on so forth, with E watching a show in the late afternoon while I made dinner. It might not sound like a lot (or it might sound like way too much if you grew up like me!) but my heart was being stirred to spend more time with Jesus and somehow days were passing and I was barely finding the time to utter quick prayers as I was doing other things.

Yesterday instead of watching a show to get 15 more minutes of sleep we got up when E got restless and had breakfast. I sat with her and ate too all the while had the prayer room live playing on the ipad instead of a show which I felt stirred my heart to be more loving towards my family and remember that my life is not my own. Then we went outside and played, had an appointment where the older kids played more with her while I talked to my client then she napped and I got caught up on some work then we went out to do some errands before coming home, having dinner and playing in the hot tub.

Today so far as started off the same - and I hope that this can be our new routine. Of course, in the time it took me to write this I have changed a poopy diaper, changed the batteries in a toy for my daughter, entertained her and loved on her. So - my quiet time is not so quiet, but again, life has many seasons and I am sure that this time is going to be one I will have many fond memories of so I plan to be proactive in enjoying them now.