Month: January 2018

Step Back

Published on by Kim

Your to-do list is long, right? Every single day, more items on the list. Some days you add items faster than you can cross them off!

What can you do?

Step back and remember why you do anything at all.

Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 22:37-40)

Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. (I Corinthians 10:31)

You are not a slave to your planner. You are to love God with every minute of each day. You have a purpose — a beautiful purpose!

So then, even when you take a half step forward and see a list of major responsibilities (also sometimes overwhelming), like those in Titus 2, you are still aware of your ultimate purpose. You love your husband in honor of your God. You practice self-control to bring glory to your Father.

Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled. (Titus 2:3-5)

Now when you look at your long list, remember you buy groceries to feed your family because you love them and you love God. You go shoe shopping for growing feet out of love for your children and your God. This applies to all the dentist appointments and chauffeuring and bill-paying and whatever else shows up on the list for the day.

Sometimes you may need to adjust your list and activities to fit your priorities, but even when they are all spot-on, you need the motivation to fuel your spirit as you walk through the day. Remember today!

Ounce of Prevention

Published on by Kim

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. — Benjamin Franklin

This is a familiar phrase, but what does it mean to you today?

There is truth in that statement, and we could come up with lots of examples from past experience. But often the realization comes after the fact…

Let’s take a few minutes for practical ways to save time and prevent headaches.

Cleaning
A daily routine of base tasks takes a few minutes but saves later when it’s time to deep clean. You won’t be as intimidated by the layers of grime that accumulate, and it won’t take as long to mop because you’ve swept the floor every day that week already. For instance, wiping down the kitchen counter after every meal only takes 1-2 minutes, but it prevents spills from hardening and staining, which saves elbow grease when you formally clean the kitchen.

Putting trash in a trash bag in the car as it appears only takes a few seconds, but the accumulation of trash in a vehicle after a week or two will be a full-blown task to clean-up.

Driving
You have 5 errands to run. Did you take a minute to think through your route before you left? It’s so easy to get 2 down and then realize that the 3rd was closer back a ways or closes in 5 minutes (when you’re 10 minutes away at a red light). Or the moment you realize that you just bought fresh meat and still have 2 stops you must make today… A couple minutes of planning as you pull out of the driveway can save time and gas and frustration.

Don’t be afraid to take a deep breath and make a plan for your next task. The minute or two invested will pay off very soon down the road.