Start Your Day With Prayer...

“This is the day the Lord has made, now let us rejoice and be glad in it.” (Psalm 118:24 NIV)

The alarm pierces its’ resounding echo throughout “the land of sweet slumber” and starts the cycle that many have become familiar with!

We bounce out of bed, and then with both feet on the floor, we hit the shower running! We stand with the water spewing its’ tiny droplets over top of us, while mentally trying to overview the events that lie ahead in our busy day... all while we lather and rinse!

We then emerge from the bath chambers, and while continually glancing frantically at the clock, we note the precious minutes of our day that have disappeared already! We dry, get dressed, suck in a big dose of oxygen, and courageously take that first step into the hectic pace and reality of our own little world!

We attempt to waken sleepy children that won’t stir on a school day, but somehow manage to rise when the sun does on Saturday mornings! The dog does its’ little dance at the door as it impatiently waits to do its morning constitutional. The cat paces in front of his food dish, while the morning news blares from the radio with all its’ gloomy stories of the day. The coffee brews, and the neighbourhood awakes. There are lunches to be made, kids to get dressed, laundry to put in, garbage to take to the curb, kitty-litter boxes to change, carpools to coordinate, jobs to go to, after-school activities to juggle, supper to plan, last minute grocery shopping to do, and errands to run. We drag ourselves out the door while trying to remember the articles for the library, the rental DVDs, the science project we overlooked yesterday, backpacks, and lunches...

Now, what else was there? Oh yes...the kids. (Sigh)

Then, while the worship music in the background tries to set the tone for our workday, we drive the kids to school, give them a quick “peck and a prayer” to send them off, and head to work with the heart intent, not to mention firm resolve, to pray on the way! (Whew)

Millions of people juggle the onset of daily activities in similar ways. Some are driven to get on their knees at their bedside, while others quietly lie and talk to their Heavenly Father. Some gather around the breakfast table with their spouses and families for prayer and their morning devotionals. Others, will slowly amble their single, lonely, sleepy bodies to the kitchen to slurp their morning cup of java in one hand, while praying, and turning the pages of their Bible with the other. Others still, can be found talking to God while holding and bouncing a tiny toddler on one hip, swinging the other that is wrapped around their leg, and tossing flapjacks with the other free hand. Sadly, very still, some will be found sitting at the bedside of a lingering, loved one with their eyes closed and a head bowed in prayer.

Many of the great, powerful, men of faith, when we read their autobiographies, all state very strongly that they started their day in prayer and study - just minutes for some, and for others, hours. It was the season of life, and commitment that they personally chose to make.

There is no formula or right-or-wrong way, it is just about doing it! For some of us, this may mean getting up a few minutes or an hour earlier in the day, but how much better your day will go when He gets the first portion! In other words, starting your day with prayer is far too important to miss!

With a new baby, a husband who commutes at extremely early hours, or an aged parent that requires medical attention in the waking-up moments; it may not be possible for your schedule, to do it in the mornings. Find the time that works for you personally. Getting ready for the activities, and praying about your day, may have to begin the night before, and that is definitely okay, too!

In seeking the path of my own journey, I have found that what personally works for me is to start in the morning. Committing my day to Him and asking Him to guide my steps, makes for the best day possible. The days I forget to ask, or don’t pause long enough in my demanding schedule to pray first, will often turn into unproductive, and sometimes overly chaotic, days!

Let this be your new morning motto:

“We need to pause and pray, before we start our day!”

NEW HABIT TO DEVELOP: Start your day with prayer!

CHALLENGE: Start a “Prayer Diary”. You can do this as part of your notebook, or in a separate notebook that you can keep with your Bible. Write your requests down, and you won’t over look them. You can note the date received, the request, the date you saw a breakthrough, and those wonderful praise reports!

TIP! You could put your Bible, a pen, a notebook for your thoughts, and your new prayer diary in a pretty basket on your nightstand. It will be there last thing at night, and first thing in the morning! Everything at your fingertips! Or, perhaps, a better location for you would be on the end of the kitchen counter, where you can grab it as part of your morning routine. Some may even like to put on their bathroom vanity, where they get ready in the morning, so they can pray for specific things while putting on make-up! Remember to do what works for you!

START EARLIER, OR THE NIGHT BEFORE

During the “homeschooling” season of my life, another mom and I used to wake up before our household, and go to a coffee shop at the crack of dawn. While sleepy husbands worked the very early morning shift, and our pre-teen and teenage children slept, we were strategically getting ready for our day.

First, we would toss in a load of laundry at our respective homes. By the time we got back to our house, it would be ready to add to our dryers. Advocates of kitchen appliances, we would also have our automatic timers going for our bread machines the night before. The smell of fresh bread would be wafting up the staircase, and were timed to shut off almost when our husbands hit the kitchen in the morning. If it lasted through their breakfasts and lunch-making episodes, they would leave it on the cooling rack until we came downstairs, and we would put the remainder into a storage bag for later.

Next would be dinner! This was always an individual choice, but the crockpot/slowcooker was a wonderful tool for those busy days of classes and fieldtrips – and we used them often!

Having checked the menu plans the day before, and while I was preparing other meals for that particular day, I multitasked by cutting and preparing the extra vegetables ahead. They were already chopped, and were placed without liquid into the bottom of the crock - where it sat in the fridge overnight with the lid on. I simply needed to haul the crockpot out of the fridge and place it in its’ container, add the last-minute potatoes, the meat that was already marinating in a zip-lock bag overnight, (so it was ready to dump), and the appropriate amount of liquid. Setting a timer for later, and giving the crockery a chance to warm while we were gone, we embraced the motto that it was just like having a maid at suppertime! Voila! We would even have our meals plugged in and rolling before we left the house!

Since she had a few extra minutes to travel and went by the door, my friend would usually pick me up. We would do a quick catch-up of the latest news happenings, slurp our morning beverage, organize and synchronize our day planners, (for our own household, group homeschooling classes, and field trips), and “head for home”, which really meant my driveway. There, in the early morning quiet, we would pause for 10 or 15 minutes to commit our day, pray for each other, our families, and our homeschooling agendas. On days where several families joined together, and we hired tutors for certain subjects, we prayed for all of them, as well! By the time we had stepped in the door, our kids were ready to wake up, and we were ready for anything! Planning ahead the night before was a big part of making it all work!

Make starting your day earlier in the morning or the night before, part of your regular routine. Laying out clothes ahead, showering before bed, checking menu plans, thawing meat overnight, gathering items to drop off, loading the bread maker ingredients, gathering the laundry, and so forth, can all help the morning to run more smoothly! Along with committing your day to Him, it is a calming way to know what is expected and what must be achieved. It also saves you from those embarrassing moments like missed appointments, and late fees!

NEW HABIT TO DEVELOP: Start your day earlier in the morning, or start it night before.

CHALLENGE: Make a list of the things that you can routinely do the night before, which will help your day start running smoothly. Do the same with the morning activities. Add it to your household notebook/binder - implementing it as part of your “before bedtime” and “early morning” routines.

You may have observed that certain tasks may need to be added on certain days. Make the appropriate notes and if you desire, add it to your binders as separate listings on one page, or spread over multiple pages. Do what works for you! Remember, if you try something and it doesn’t work. Try it another way!

CHALLENGE: Set your alarm, if possible, for an earlier start than your family. Any time frame that benefits you will work. Five minutes? Fifteen minutes? An hour? Do what is best for you! See how this effects your outlook on your day!

And, don’t forget to pray!

Personalizing Your Schedule ~ Part 2

Find yourself a binder, or at least a notebook. (Granted you could use a laptop if that is really your style.)

You will want to keep all your work in one place. That way, if need be, it will be accessible to your household - and it will make your project “household portable". In case of an emergency, this will make it handy for others to see what needs to happen! (This is especially useful, if you are doing your planning tasks while waiting for your children after school, at the doctor’s office, or on your lunch hour!)

It can be new or old. There are some who no doubt, have one hidden in a pile of clutter in the basement or garage, so see what you can come up with. (Have someone watch for the castoff binders from their company’s discontinued training manuals! The companies are often thrilled to see them recycled!)

You may even choose to do your initial planning layout on the computer, but once it is down, I would recommend printing it for easy accessibility and then putting it in a binder! (Page protectors are a wonderful preservative for sheets that are handled often!)

You can find some neat ones with organizers built into the cover, to hold your calculator, pens and sticky notes! Remember, it doesn’t have to be fancy. It just needs to keep you organized!

Don’t forget the page protectors and notebook dividers - there are some amazing plastic ones that far outlast the old cardstock versions! You will want at least one package to start! Sticky notes are another handy item and they came in all sorts of colours! As a “visual” personality, I use different colours for different things!

If you want, personalize your cover and make it your own! As an artist, I love to create fibre-art, but I know there are tremendously talented scrapbook artists who can do the same thing! (Remember though, as your “household notebook”, it will probably take a lot of wear-and-tear, so laminate it, or use a protective covering if you want to preserve your creation!)

After asking “Where Does Your Time Go” and figuring out how your current schedule flows, this would be the next practical step. This will take some time, so feel free to spread it out over several days or a week - it is not necessary to try to attempt to do this all in one fell swoop!

Most importantly, before you start, don’t forget to pray and ask God for the wisdom and clarity needed as you lay this “planning stage” out! We want Him to lead our steps, and we want to work with Him!

Now make yourself a week’s worth of 24-hour time charts, in 15 minute increments for a week. If you have different "weekly" schedules, do a months’ worth! Another helpful tool is a monthly calendar for those monthly commitments and appointments that you will be able to see at a glance. (Don’t run out and buy a bunch of calendars! If you don't have one, ask a friend to print some blank pages on the computer for you to use as a working copy! We will be looking at that issue later. Remember we are still in the planning and organizing stages!)

Utilize your computer, or grab a pencil and eraser, and we will now take it one step further.

You will be doing a lot of cut-and-paste, or erasing and moving things, at this point. (Tip #1: A calendar-program or spreadsheet on your computer can work quite effectively. Tip #2: For planning, some sticky notes on a wall that can be moved around will work, as will a dry erase board. Or, you could use recipe cards on the biggest expanse of floor that you can find! Tip #3: This could be a great take-along task for doing in the car while you are waiting, or in a waiting room, over the course of this week. Do what works best for your organizing style!)

Attempt to first break it down into general time segments for your own “individual” household.

This may change over time, so don’t get stressed over it! For example: I initially segmented mine into early morning (5-9, since we are up at 5 due to hubby’s early work hours, and I have a lot on my list “to do” list), morning routine (9-12), lunch hour, afternoon routine (1-4), before supper routine (4-5), after supper routine (5:30-6:30, as I usually have meetings in the evenings), evening (7- 10) before bedtime routine, and bedtime routine (depending on the day of the week and my meeting schedule).

This is the place where I discovered my schedule-calendar meets “the need to be very personalized”, and why a standard calendar-format type of planner doesn’t work for a very “visual” and “colour-coding” me! I also have lists that are way too long for the little, teeny spaces that most calendars provide, and the little “stickies” help for my one-time details. Again, this is where designing your own “personalized” calendar/schedule/binder comes in handy - and why your own “household notebook” will be “evolving” for a short while!

Initially, you may see where events will run over the top of your natural time segments, but that is okay, as it is part of seeing where things fall! This is not about “knowing” what you “do automatically”, but about “seeing” how to make it all work! This is where your own calendar becomes unique and personal!

Enter your “mandatory” activities and “priority” commitments first. (Tip: Be sure to separately show the required amount of travel time that is needed before and after events. People often forget to do this and wonder why they can’t seem to make it all work! And if the event is cancelled, for some reason, it is easy to locate those extra chunks of free time!) Blocking or framing these time segments in a different colour may be helpful for seeing where things are falling. Church time on Sunday is one example. Homeschooling hours during the week, are another. Figure out what your own “blocks of time” are - they may include your job, your alternating custody slots with your children, family time, after-school routines, homeschooling hours, study time, regular hobbies, weekly visits, volunteer hours, church, bible study time, prayer meetings, and whatever other “goals” and regular items that you may have. Those “to-do” lists will come later! Just block out the time zones for now!

Save some time here now, and check and see what nights you need to plan for meals that need to be eaten earlier, later, or on the run. This will help to ensure that meals are not skipped, and that you are not relying on take-out!

We are living in a different day and age and sit-down dinners are a common rarity in most households. (We will be addressing this in the near future, but do consider making it a scheduled part of your time zones on your calendar, if you do it now. Some families are happy to accomplish this feat once a week or on specific days, while others insist on it daily.)

You may find a busy day and evening activities, require a "crockpot Wednesday" weekly, a "stirfry" Thursday, and the after-school activites on Tuesday mean a "grab-and-go wrap" with all the fixings on the side that that has been put together early morning or the night before!Remember. you are still in the planning stages, so make a note in another colour on your calendar, or on a separate “Meal Planning” page, so you can find this info later on. Even a sticky note on your pages will work for now!)

Now, look at your normal, monthly household calendar.

What is not part of your regular schedule, but part of your customary events? This where you should be writing down vet appointments, doctors, dentists, and car tune-ups! Be sure to include those “every second Tuesday” and “every fourth Wednesday of the month” meetings, and your children’s extracurricular activities. Appointments are only noted on the monthly calendar at this point, unless they are a recurring and regularly-slotted event. (If you are a visual person, like myself, I like to jot appointment reminders on brightly coloured sticky notes and add them to the pages in my dayplanner, as well. This ensures that I don’t overlook something!)

Now, let’s see where the time goes, and what is left over after that.

Not much time left, is there? This is the point where people generally begin to realize they may be overcommitted. If you are feeling that way, see if there is some weeding-out of the activities that is required, or even possible. You may have to re-evaluate what is important to you, and what is not!

Do you need to make any necessary changes to your “plan” based on what you see?

Have a family meeting, with those in your household, and see what changes are feasible. Don’t forget to start with prayer! Delegating certain tasks, and hiring outside help for a season, may be solutions to those dilemmas. It will help you to discern the things that have to change or be added.

So the task is: Grab your binder, which we will call our "household notebook" for the time being, and write down a list of all the things you need to do the next day. Do this every night for the week and note problem areas. Review it daily, in light of your newly planned schedule.

Personalizing Your Schedule ~ Part 1

Joyce Meyer is noted for telling the story about feeling overwhelmed with her very busy schedule and how she was complaining to the Lord about it. She tells furthermore, of how in the midst of her quandary, He quickly responded back to her with “Well, don’t complain to Me about it! I didn’t make your schedule - you did!” Almost immediately, the crowds break out into laughter, as does Joyce, because everyone can relate!

Scripture tells us we will stand before Him one day, and give an account. Certainly, that includes our time.

It makes one think, doesn’t it? While we do not know all the days that He has planned for us, we do know the necessary tasks that must be done in order to sustain our flow, and the activities of daily living. Or do we?

Busyness can remove clarity from our sight in an instant! For some, in the midst of their circumstances, it may be the momentum of “maintaining” or “surviving” that is keeping it all together! Others may have simply lost sight of the “necessary” items, and sacrificed them for other deeds and “responsibilities” that were, perhaps, never even theirs to carry in the first place!

Then again, our memories may be good, but just short, and in the shuffle of activity we forget. It could be that it needs to be made more tangible; that it just needs to be written down, so that one can actually see and work through the list. Learning styles and personalities can make a big difference in the approaches taken, when it comes to scheduling, housework, and routines! For example, goal-oriented people love to see a list with checkmarks or lines stroked through, in order to feel they accomplished their “to dos” for the day. (You many want to find out what “personality types” are in your household, and what their learning styles are. It may just give you some new inspiration regarding approaches to the tasks and the motivation to do them! There are some great books with a more Christian-based approach that are available on the market.)

It could be the simplicity of implementing routines to change a “scattered” approach to life and work, which is needed. For those with illness or random care-giving duties, this may be harder to pinpoint, but the idea is to have a starting point, so there is strength to tackle the day.

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” (Phil 4:13 KJV)

But, what are all the things?

The secret to finding out what the "all things" are, is found by identifying your own personal and household schedules. It is the undisclosed, secret weapon of “knowing” what needs to be done and when. It will give added fuel, strength, and clarity as to fulfilling the tasks, and will aid you in “keeping it all together”.