"She perceiveth that her merchandise is profitable: Her lamp goeth not out by night."
It's a tiny bit ironical that the principle I want to touch on this week for this verse is time management and it's Sunday, 6 days late I'm posting!! *blush*
"Her lamp goeth not out by night"- You know that old adage about our mothers, "First up, last to bed." That's a long the same lines as this and how did our mothers manage this? How did the virtuous women pull this off? Time management.
We all have the same hours in the day, but how we manage them makes a huge difference! We need to take the time to analyze how we use our time and make the adjustments necessary.
Now I don't profess to know everything about this, in fact I'm not even equipped to write a long 'how to' in regards to children, but there are some principles that I think we all agree can be helpful.
I. Prioritize your time. Make sure you know how you're using your time. (added benefits-becoming aware of how you spend your time and catching bad habits)
II. Plan personal Bible study time. Even if that means teaching your very young to sit still on the couch by your side looking at a Bible book etc, while you study and pray. (added benefits- teaching your children dedication and self-discipline)
III. Plan your meals ahead of time. It saves money and headaches. (added benefits are ease in hospitality, emergencies etc.)
IV. Do a little house work each day. There are some good helps and planners like Fly Lady and Organized Home. (added benefits are ease of working within your home, hospitality, comfortableness.)
V. Don't plan too much. The object of using your time well is not to get more things done, but to get the things you need done, completed in a timely manner. (added benefits are spontaneous picnics, outings, time to care for other people and time with your children.)
These are just a few ways to work on better managing our time. I know sometimes it seems impossible to keep ahead of what seems like chaos, but we can have these anchors that will helps us keep our heads, and be able to be gracious moms, and daughters as we work toward these goals of virtue. :)
I would love to hear thoughts and comments on any of this!
