I am hurriedly typing as I know I must shower and get my posse of three dressed and out the door in an hour and a half. They also have to be fed. Those crazy kids think I have to feed them everyday. Imagine!
Here is the thing. I am reading"The Best Yes" by Lysa Terkeurst. ( Sort of, when I get up in time and the kiddos don't realize I am up before them.) It is a great book. It has sent me soul searching. I feel like I don't do enough, you know? I don't do enough ministry or volunteer work, or anything else other than my little life ( that I do love by the way.) Then I took the time assessment offered on the book's website here. In the book she mentions we all have 168 hours in a week and we get to control what we do with them. I mean, of course you must sleep and feed your family, and you house should not be a total disaster. You will likely take your children to activities and such, but if you want to do that thing that God wove deeply into your DNA, write a book, teach a class, take a class, start a business, etc., you have to take what precious time is left and make it happen.
I used the assessment. I use approximately 169 hours per week. Huh. No wonder some things are not getting done. They are disappearing into that not existent hour! I re-evaluated. I prayed. I tried to figure out what could be cut so I could do my "soul thing" as she calls it in the book. You know what. I see that I truly already am. A big chunk of my time, most of it other than sleeping, goes to homeschooling our kids and doing Cystic Fibrosis treatments. Our family chose homeschool to help our son who seemed to have gotten a little behind because we moved a lot, and now he thrives in it. We homeschool our daughter with Cystic Fibrosis for many reasons, but one of the benefits is being more in control of the germs she comes in contact with. ( Of course we know the only control we have over ANY of it is given to us by God, and He is ultimately in control.) We also have a baby that has the disease and requires treatments that take a good deal of time as well. While our older daughter doesn't require my full attention during treatments anymore, neither does she like to do them alone, so I try to be with her as much as possible.
My schedule is ALREADY taken up by my "soul thing." I may need to adjust my sleep a little, lol... by an hour a week I guess... but I love what I do with our kids and I think this is the season we are in right now. This is not a season for me to regularly keep up with a ministry blog, or volunteer, or anything else other than care for the family, including an ah-mazing husband, that God has given me.
I am not saying this is what YOU should do. Where your kids are schooled totally depends on what is right for YOUR family. This is not an article about homeschool or the woes of having special needs children. THIS is an article about the seasons of life. I just want whoever is reading this, if you are feeling discouraged about what you are NOT doing, to remember that we have seasons in our life and we can only do what we are meant to do in those time. They change. Just honestly evaluate and if you are doing what you should be doing for now, what God has for you to do NOW, give yourself a break on the rest. The time will come. The season will change, and you will likely miss it when it does.
Oh and get the book. It is really good.
