Last Updated on October 21, 2020 by Stacy Averette

You’ve got to know what you want. This is central to acting on your intentions.
When you know what you want, you realize that all there is left then is time management. You’ll manage your time to achieve your goals because you clearly know
what you’re trying to achieve in your life.

Patch Adams

Time management was a challenge for me when I became a full-time stay-at-home-mom and homemaker.  I’d grown accustomed to a set schedule as a working mom and prided myself on being a highly disciplined person. As a teenager I’d become rigorous about daily habits that served me well for years as student-wife-mother-professional.

My first few months at home full-time were wonderful as I adjusted to the rhythm of my family’s needs and schedules.  I abandoned the daily schedule and habits I’d cultivated for years and embraced a new found freedom to do what I wanted when I wanted (within reason).

Life was but a dream.

Until it became a nightmare.

Nightmare on Garrett Drive

Our sweet little house on a big corner lot soon felt like a prison.

There were:

  • piles of dirty laundry
  • toys everywhere
  • two children in diapers
  • one thousand requests a day for a snack
  • Disney movies on repeat

I had no idea how to meal plan or cook real food or keep a house clean. The stress of it all, plus the reality of being a one income family, almost wrecked me.

I gradually learned how to cook, keep house, and live joyfully on budget; but, not until I settled two other issues.  I want to share the two big things that made all the difference for me and I think will make a difference for you as you seek to live in obedience to the glory of God.

Two Big Things

1. Know your priorities.

Know your priorities. See the emphasis on “your”? It’s there for a reason. Because everyone will have an opinion and some will share it with you, as to what they think you should be doing with your time, money, kids, home, and talent. And if you listen to everyone you’ll lose your way, your sanity, and yourself.  Choose a godly mentor or two who know you well and have no agenda other than to help you be the man or woman God has called you to be. Share your priorities with them and invite them to hold you accountable.

Time management is an oxymoron. Time is beyond our control, and the clock keeps ticking regardless of how we lead our lives. Priority management is the answer to maximizing the time we have. John C. Maxwell

2. Be where you are.

I don’t think that statement needs much explanation. With the click of a button today we can be transported. We can see and experience the world and talk to anyone at any time right from the comfort of our couch. But the blessing can be a curse if we aren’t careful. I didn’t have that option in 2001 thanks to dial up internet and no cable TV, but that didn’t stop my mind from wandering and wishing I was somewhere else. The Enemy loves to whisper lies that sound an awful lot like the truth and like Adam and Eve in the garden, if we believe them we’ll miss what’s right in front of us.

Most people who have a deep desire for lives of meaning and purpose and love are the kind of people who already have lives of meaning and purpose and love. Just for a moment today – put on your perspectacles and look at your own life. You’ve probably got someone to love, some good work to do, some people who count on you, something beautiful to look at. If you have all that and a little bit of chocolate, too- you’ve already got it all. That’s it, you guys. Life need get no “bigger” than that. Glennon Doyle

While I don’t agree with all the opinions expressed by Glennon Doyle, this one definitely struck a chord with me. I know the ministry I have now, at home and from home, is exactly where God would have me, but the Enemy loves to pick on me and tempt me with the forbidden fruit of comparison. He takes my desire for a life of meaning and purpose and love—which is a really good thing—and distorts it like he did in the garden with the sin of comparison. He takes what I have, all the “trees of the garden” to enjoy, and compares them to them one “tree” I don’t have, implying that God is messing with me or holding out on me.

He does it to us all. He says, “Look at her life and ministry, her success, her house, her car, her husband, her kids, her clothes, her vacations. Why don’t you have that? And thus begins our vain attempt to be anywhere but where we are by trying, striving, and hustling to be where they are so we can have what they have.

So I agree with Glennon.

Don’t become so concerned with creating a life of meaning that you forget you already have one. Because what if your life is already the best thing?

Two big things that make all the difference. Know your priorities. Know what’s most important to you and for you to live the life God has called you to live. Then be where you are. Be all there. And when it’s time for your priorities to change or for you to be somewhere different doing something different, trust that your faithful Father who directs your steps will do just that!

The heart of man plans his way,
    but the Lord establishes his steps. Proverbs 16:9

Did you read the Patch Adams quote at the beginning? Here it is again:

You’ve got to know what you want.
This is central to acting on your intentions.
When you know what you want, you realize that all there is left then is time management. You’ll manage your time to achieve your goals because you clearly know what you’re trying to achieve in your life.  Patch Adams
In this life I want to glorify God and be happy. Yes, I have a list of goals I want to reach and places I want to travel,  but my desire to glorify God and be happy in Him overshadows them all.

Pursuing God’s glory is virtually the same as pursuing your joy.

Millions of people waste their lives because they think these paths are two and not one. –John Piper

Thanks for reading. I hope you’ll come back again soon. If you’d like to know when I’ve written a new post click here and I’ll send you an email.

I’m thrilled to be featured by Richella at Imparting Grace. I’d love it if you’d click over and learn about all the ways you can make your home a place of grace!

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4 thoughts on “The Accidental Homemaker: Time Management Blues”

  1. What an excellent post! I appreciate your honesty and candor in sharing your story. And I love the emphasis on knowing YOUR priorities. You’re so right about this. Thanks for the reminder to open our eyes to God’s blessings wherever we are.

    Thanks so much for joining the Grace at Home party at Imparting Grace. I’m featuring you this week!

  2. Sometimes it boils down to being content with where you are now. When I asked Him recently to help me be content with where I was, it all fell into place and I could merrily proceed with the management of my time.

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