Being Wise Managers of Our Time

As a homeschooling, work-at-home mom of three precious children, I have found that time can slip away if I am not careful. From the necessary day-to-day tasks of running a home to the intimate relationships we are nurturing with God and our family; being a wise manager of time is an absolute necessity.

Let me paint a picture for you:

It's 6am and the alarm clock is going off. As you roll over to press snooze you hear little footsteps coming down the hall. Even though your body wants to sleep, you know that you need to get up and get your morning routine rolling, but your heart melts when you see that precious little face hop onto your bed. Instead of getting up you decide to sit and cuddle your baby just a little longer. Then you fall asleep only to wake up an hour later and find you are late to an appointment. Oh, no! Sound familiar?

It is so easy to fall into the trap of being "perpetually behind" as a mom. If we are not careful to manage our time wisely, we will get swallowed up by everything around us. And no mom is "safe" from this pending disaster. But we can prepare our hearts and minds to have a different strategy to help us win in this area of our lives.

3 Tips to Help Manage Your Time Wisely

1. Plan for it. While we know that the Lord ultimately orders our steps, without a plan we get nowhere. I believe that every mom needs a planner and if you have more than one thing you do (ie: work from home, homeschool) then I believe you'd benefit from having separate planners for each. By making a plan, you are already ahead of the day and even if chaos breaks out; you still have what you need to do written down. While I don't always get what I write down each day accomplished, it helps keep me grounded when life throws me a curve ball. I never feel bad about not accomplishing everything on my list; I just move it to the next day in its order of priority.

2. Pray for it. Each night before I go to sleep I pray over the day ahead. I thank God for His wisdom and love to overtake me in all that I do. I have found that when I pray for God to help me manage my time wisely there is a distinct difference as opposed to when I don't. It's fun to also get the kids involved when praying for the day. It teaches them to honor God, to lead a lifestyle of prayer, and helps build their faith as they see God working throughout the day!

3. Own it. Be sure to own your time management and allow no room for excuses. If you do well, then you can be happy for a job well done. If you need improvement (which we all do) then that's okay. Just own up to the things that you can do better and put a plan in place to do better next time. And be sure that you forgive yourself for any mistakes that were made. I assure you that this will be crucial and very beneficial to growing in your time management skills!

Being a wise manager of time is a continual process as we go from season to season in life. With God at your side and His word in your heart, you can create a time management system that works for you and your family. And over time it will just become second nature to you to manage your time wisely!

In Christ,
Carlie Kercheval
todaysfrugalmom.com