Look back just a few years ago, and can you see a few changes in your life? I know I can. Some of them are drastic. Several years ago, however, I never would have expected the changes.
When I was a younger mother, I was surrounded by several little ones. Some days seemed so hard as I tried to keep everything together, often nursing a new baby for much of the day. It seemed perhaps those days would never end. But the children grew, and the babies stopped coming for a time.
When I first started homeschooling, I devoted a few hours each day to teach my older ones their earliest lessons of reading and other necessary subjects. Days of schooling became longer as more children were added along with more subjects. Then the older ones were able to learn all on their own, while I continued teaching younger children.
These years flew by quickly, with many more changes happening. Some of the changes, I never expected to happen. I know women who have had not only changes, but close scrapes with death where they would no longer be here if the Lord had not been keeping them. Some have had spouts of health problems that have kept them in bed for days or even weeks or sometimes months. None of us really expected the changes that would come. We thought life would just keep on going as it had.
But in this we must learn a grave lesson. Tomorrow is not guaranteed. We might find ourselves wrapped up in social media, smartphones, or otherwise on that never-ending source of information and distractions–the internet. These tools can be useful in some ways, but definitely are not always necessary. They can become huge time-wasters and time-suckers, and for many, even addictions. Our days can fly by while we check on how so-and-so, so-and-so, and so-and-so are doing, or maybe just what they’ve been up to. We can get sucked into hours of research. We can constantly be checking emails. We can be on social media groups that take time and attention away from our family.
But, are we making the best use of our time? We must ask ourselves this, and also ask, Is this what the Lord would have me to be doing now?
Those minutes turn into hours, which turn into days, which turn into weeks. And then the years just fly by. Time is fleeting. We never know when the Lord will take us home to be with Him. Whenever I hear of a young mother dying, I am deeply affected. I know it was in the Lord’s plan, but it makes me think of my own family and my responsibility to them. Have I done well? Have I done well each day? Have I done the best I can, each day, by God’s grace?
I’m not saying we should live in fear every day of dying or becoming seriously ill. But we should always be considering if what we are doing is the best use of our time. We are only given twenty-four hours each day, and we should use that time wisely. Our priorities should be first the Lord (spending time in His Word and prayer), our husbands, and then our children. Everything else comes after that. Taking care of our homes is part of our ministry to our husbands and children. If we focus on these things, we will do quite well.
As far as time on the internet goes, as often it is needful to use it to a certain extent, I have found it helpful to write down a short list of things I need to get done online before I get online, so I am sure to stick to those things. And then I will usually set a timer for 15 minutes or so to tackle those items and come back later to finish if it’s necessary. Setting a timer is also a good idea if you live far away from family and friends and need to catch up online. Another tool you may find useful is a schedule, which works wonderfully if you actually stick to it as much as possible, knowing that you can come back to tasks the next day if you didn’t finish today. I may write another post on this, but a book I have found so very helpful on this subject is Managers of Their Homes by Teri Maxwell. Some women balk at the idea of having a schedule, but a schedule really can help you focus and keep on task.
Some days will be more productive than others. But as homemakers, we must always be seeking to use our time wisely, for God’s glory and for our family’s sake.
