Homemaker's Haven

• She looketh well to the ways of her household

This week I'm joining a new meme (that's blogger talk for themed posts) called "The Homemaker's Haven" , sponsored by Stephanie at A High and Noble Calling. The purpose of the meme it to help us all stay focused and accountable as we work to make our homes a haven. She has a good introductory post about using the 4 P's--prayer, prioritize, plan, and progress as tools to keep our days ordered.

Prayer--I know there are many who recommend praying first thing in the mornings, but I find that this can backfire on me. If I get up and come straight away to the couch to read and pray, I'm still half asleep, and I have trouble concentrating. Sometimes I find myself dozing off, or else so distracted thinking about what I need to do, that I'm not really reading or praying. On days that I'm at home, I find I do better if I get up, get myself groomed, make my bed and do a few little things to get my day's routine started. It may be as simple as starting a load of clothes in the washer and putting something out to thaw for dinner, but once the initial rush of the morning is over and those little nagging things are done, I can sit down with my Bible and spend time in prayer, journaling, planning my day, etc. I find that I often end up spending more time with the Lord then, because I've fully awake and I don't have that feeling of urgent daily, un-done tasks to distract me. My goal is to keep the important at the top of my list of priorities, which brings me to...

Prioritize--Have you heard that saying, that sometimes the important is drowned out by the merely urgent? Sometimes, like with morning prayer, I do better to tackle just a few of those "urgent" things and get them out of the way so that I can concentrate on what's important. The problem with this is that if I don't watch it, I start to view everything as "urgent"--from those that are, to those that may not be. Setting priorities can be something of a hit-or-miss thing, because what's important looks different to every one of us, and can change from day to day--or even hourly for some us! Sometimes the simple act of writing it all down can help us determine what is important vs. what is merely urgent. And that brings me to:

Planning--One of my favorite planners of all time was one I bought from a Christian bookstore. It was from Focus on the Family and was called "The Fruit of Her Hands". It was spiral bound, and undated, so that you could pick it up and use it at any time. It had a blank monthly calendar on a two page spread, and a page or two of blank, lined pages for you to make notes. Then came 5 weekly pages, divided by days. Each week had a scripture to read and mediate on, and daily columns that could be used in several different practical ways. There was room to write down appointments, notes to yourself, dinner menus, or whatever you wanted to write. What I liked about it was the flexibility--I could jot down what was important to me for that day--be it a prayer request or a grocery list--and if I didn't use it for a week or two, I could still pick it up and start back where I'd left off.

Unfortunately, that particular planner is out of print and no longer available, but the principles I used during that time still apply, if I'd just use them. I have a tendency to let time get away from me, and before I know it, the day, week, or month is almost over and I haven't gotten nearly as much done as I thought I would! And once again that brings me to...

Progress--In order to see progress, Stephanie has challenged us to do something to make our homes more enjoyable, whether it's getting rid of clutter or adding something beautiful. My goals are to :

1. Clean off the coffee table and the kitchen pass through, including making a place for the things that seem to get piled up, and putting them there
2. Get back in the habit of writing things down, whether in a planner or on a scratchpad, so that I can keep in mind short term and long term goals, and see the difference between the urgent vs the important
3. Spend more time on the important and less on the urgent

Until next time...