Priorities

A friend of mine checked out my blog and emailed to ask me how in the world I find time to sit down and write it. I had to laugh at her email because she only has three kids (one of which is a newborn) and she commented on how she can barely get a shower in most days. Believe me, I'm right there with her!

What I've found is that everyday is all about priorities. Do I wake up early to do Bible study, or sleep in until my kids wake up? Do I wash the dishes, or read aloud to my kids? Do I brush my girls' hair, or do devotions with the kids? Do I fold the laundry and put it away, or do I play a game of Memory with Gracie? Do I make my bed, or snuggle with Aaron for a few minutes? Of course the list goes on and on.

Before I had children, I was very anal and neat. Our bed was always made. Dishes were always done. Counters were always spotless and empty. Piles were non-existent in my home. I was quite organized, in fact I filed everything and kept those files in chronological order and up to date. Then came the children...and initially I tried very hard to keep all the balls in the air.

Most days our bed isn't made. There are always dishes in our sink, especially because we are home most days to home school. Much to my dismay, there are piles all over my counters. I file from time to time, but they are nothing like they used to be. Dusting and vacuuming are a rare occurrence around here.

My priorities have clearly changed. I think ahead five...ten years and realize that it won't matter if my bed was made every single day or if my files were current and my house was immaculate. What will matter is the heart condition of my children. What will matter is their relationships with God, each other and with us. What will matter is their memories of childhood.

As I was writing this post I kept thinking of the words to a song...you may know it. "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you, Allelu, Alleluia." And I recall that there is a verse somewhere in the Bible about putting God first and then He will make all the other things fall into place. Sorry I can't quote the exact verse...I'm not good at pulling that stuff from memory (I also rely heavily on the tabs of my Bible to figure out where all the books are).

One of my favorite home school speakers (Carole Joy Seid) has a saying that I love and it goes like this, "It is more important to make sure our children get into Heaven, than Harvard." There is so much truth to that! And as you can tell by my picture, putting away laundry has not been a priority this last week...those are all clean clothes, about five loads I think, and the sad thing is there is another load on our bed. And the bag is full of clean clothes from our trip to Arrowhead last weekend. So glad it's the weekend tomorrow...