In case you’re wondering, the Bear had a delightful birthday yesterday! Thanks for all the well-wishes! I hope to have some pictures from the fabulous event here for you, soon!
Early one morning a few weeks ago, a little interaction went on inside my brain that has had me thinking for a while. The Bear got up early and after we ate our breakfast, I had a choice to make. The Bear wanted to watch TV, and at first I thought that might be a very good idea. Sometimes on Saturdays if the Bear gets up early and Hero Hubs and I want to sleep a little longer, we put a DVD in to keep him entertained. This could mean another 45 minutes or so of snoozing, which never hurts. And this weekday morning, another 30 – 45 minutes on the couch while the Bear was entertained sounded like a really good idea.
But then another thought came to mind: is this short-term decision lining up with my long-term goals? You see, one of my long-term goals is to raise the Bear (and other wee ones that come along) in such a way that he does not need to be entertained in order to be happy. I would like for him to learn to play with his books and toys and puzzles and not need the TV on all day long (or really at all). I realised that the decision to start snoozing in on weekdays with the Bear staring at the Wonder Pets or Veggie Tales could quickly become an everyday habit that would take months to break, and be tough for the Bear to say bye bye to.
This led me to begin thinking about the daily schedule that I have needed to spend time thinking through. The truth is, we only have so many hours in a day — only so many days on this earth, and if we don’t direct a decent portion of our time to achieving our goals, we just won’t achieve them. There’s some writing on my heart that is bigger than a blog post, but if I don’t set time aside for it, it won’t happen. I want a strong marriage, but if I fail to plan time to spend quality time with my husband, we run the risk of failing to cultivate a healthy and growing relationship. I want the Bear to know that he can come to me at any time — I want to build a healthy relationship with him, too — so I purposefully spend time reading to him, taking him for walks, and even just playing with him.
How many times have you looked at the clock and realised you just wasted a half hour on Facebook? Maybe longer? Or how often have you been drawn in to watching a movie on TV you’ve already seen twice? Did you end up going to bed later than you intended? And because of it you ended up waking up later than you planned, maybe finding yourself unable to spend time in prayer or reading the Word? Were you tired all day, too? The thing is, if we don’t decide how we’re going to spend our time, something else will decide for us. If you have goals you want to achieve, odds are, a lot of those goals aren’t going to be achieved while you’re on Facebook.
So teach us to number our days,
that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
{Psalm 90:12}
A lot of folks personally responded to me recently saying that it was time to stop existing and start living again. While I probably have a book’s worth of suggestions for making that transition, I think one thing that makes a lot of us come alive is taking the time to think about what we’re passionate about, and then making a plan for how to make that a part of our lives. Do you need to set aside a few hours a week to volunteer in a Crisis Pregnancy Centre? Is there a book on your heart you could spend thirty minutes a day beginning to put on paper? May you need to get your mountain bike out of the garage, and make getting out there a priority on your schedule.
Whatever the passion, whatever that come-alive thing is that your day has been missing, let today be the day that you grab the bull by the horns and plan to make the dream a reality. Put it in your schedule and stick to it. Ask someone to hold you accountable.
I am confident you’ll feel a lot more like getting out of bed in the morning if you’re living your life, instead of life living you.
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Wonderful post, Caroline… as inspirational and motivating as always. Thanks for the gentle kick in the behind! 🙂
Haha you are so great Julia! Glad you were motivated! What I could’ve done with the years I spent watching reruns on TV…. 🙂 I wish someone gave me a kick a while ago! xoxo
My sister, I absolutely LOVED this blog. Thanks for sharing it. Much wisdom to gain for me in the future. Keep inspiring others:)
Thanks sister! “Watching that space” for the announcement of your new blog. And excited to take a moment to find out more about the Oprah interview!! Whew! Love you stax!
AMEN SISTA!
First – so much of what you said is what I battle with each day. (as a single adult having much more “extra” time than those who are married & esp with kids – I have so much more time to offer in service – so I need to stay diligent which I don’t always do)
Second – (see first comment about being a single adult) often times I see parents who struggle with this aspect of the battle you mentioned with “short term child distraction” hurting the “long term child development” – (and I realize it is easy to know “theories” but not having kids of my own to have to deal with ACTUAL application) but sometimes I get frustrated but also try and hold my tongue since I am not “in their shoes” – so thanks for stating this so well from someone who is living that same life that they are.
Keep up the good work buddy!
Neal — I love the thought that you are #1 aware of the extra time and #2 want to channel in a direction of service. I wouldn’t have expected less from you, but it is just good to read it and see it anyway. I hope the Lord will give you the grace to challenge the people around you in a loving way — we need sharpen each other a lot more than we are in the Body these days!! Blessings to you!!
how weird- our blogs were sort of similar today! crazy! (yours was much better, but still, the idea was similar) 😉
I liked yours!! I’m posting a link to yours next Free-for-All Friday! I need to figure out what brings me joy! Yours had better photos, too! You look amazing!!! Love you!
Oh dear… your post was just shouting at me! 🙂 This is definitely something I have been struggling with for a long time, I’m always too lazy to do anything! But I’m pretty determined to do something about it now. Thanks for the great post!
You’re so welcome, Moriah! You are such an amazing young woman!! Hope you are doing great, and that you’re continually motivated to do something great for Jesus! 😀
So very true! This is one of the reasons I don’t have internet at home because I don’t want it to keep me from doing things that I should be doing like my daily Bible reading, prayer, and even the things we have to do like clean house. Ugh! Great post! Thanks Caroline! You rock!
Wow Caroline, did we know each other when you wrote this one? I love the volunteer at the Crisis pregnancy centre, thats exactly how i felt, being single i have alot more extra time on my hands and wanted to help others while i can!
No, we hadn’t met yet when I wrote this! I volunteered for a while at the Crisis Pregnancy Centre in Edinburgh and found it really life-giving when I was there! I am glad you are out there using your time wisely, friend!! 🙂
“The truth is, we only have so many hours in a day — only so many days on this earth, and if we don’t direct a decent portion of our time to achieving our goals, we just won’t achieve them.”
So good! You continue to inspire me dear friend.
Thanks so much, sweet Pam! You are SUCH an inspiration to me! xoxo