My Quest For Balance

Starting Small

I've been studying the book of Matthew at Bible study since September.  This past week we learned about the mustard seed.  Have you ever seen one?  They are super small.

Kind of like me, and how I feel at times.

Who am I?  I am just one person, one woman, one mom...what can I do?  How can I impact the world for greatness?  What great legacy can I leave behind?  I am just so small and insignificant, right?

Wrong!

I may be an ordinary person, but because of who I belong to. And with Him since I am His daughter I become royalty.  I become valuable.  I become extraordinary!  

A mustard seed may be tiny...but if you can have faith as small as a mustard seed in an awesome God, the one true God, then you can move mountains!

So today I am taking small steps (with God's great help) and being more faithful in the quality time that I spend with my kids.  We are reading Pilgrim's Progress Every Night and our storybook Bible, and we are having great conversations.  The kids eyes are being opened, and hopefully their hearts are too.  Bedtime was becoming so painfully rushed over here.  And most nights I was happy to send them to bed without any extra quality story time.  

But in my quest for balance, one of my priorities is time spent with my kids.  I want that time to be three fold.

Time with my kids

* I want it to be meaningful. (have an eternal value)

* I want it to be full of love. (I want them to look forward to it and for us to grow closer together because of it. I don't want it to be rushed or hurried or become a burden.)

* I want it to be a heart to heart time. (open for questions and answers)

Many times, throughout the day, I'm with my kids, but I'm not fully present.  I'm cleaning, I'm cooking, I'm taking care of Micah, and the big kids are just use to waiting and not getting all of my attention.  I was feeling really guilty about that.  I am praying that these extra 15-20 minutes at bedtime where I can be fully present with them will be a really great bonding time.

And who knows?  Maybe when they are older one day, they will look back and say, "Mom really did take time to read to us and answer our questions.  She really loved us!"  Instead of, "Mom was always busy."  My prayer is that God will really bless this time at night.  This is my small step towards balance this month.