Busy With the Wrong Things

Everyone gets 24 hours each day.  Some do SO much in those 24 hours and others waste and squander those 24 hours.  What do you do?  Are you redeeming the time and doing those things that are needful and top priority?  Or rather are you doing things that really have no value on your priority list but have choked out the needful things in your life?

What if we, as women, all stopped and evaluated our time?  What would we find?  Would we find hours spent online reading, playing games, facebooking/twittering and other things that consume our time?  Are those things that you value?  Name them and make a list of what you do online and ask yourself how those things benefit you and your family.  Are they helping you become a better person?  Are they replacing what really matters in your life?  Does God and the family have to go on the back-burner because you just have to read another Facebook update?  Just who is really your God; your idol; the one you worship the most?

I refuse to let the computer and the internet take place of God and my responsibilities.  When I don't spend time in God's word daily and prayer talking to Him and I haven't given myself to my family's needs - what is taking my time?  Every now and then I've learned to stop myself and re-evaluate my life and my priorities.  Normally, if I find I don't have time to make something homemade, all I have to do is look at what I'm doing with my time and see what I'm putting before giving a wonderful, healthy homemade meal to my family.  I have counted at times, reading blogs or other time wasters online more important than God and my family because I gave my time to them more.  That is not acceptable in my life!

If you were to ask your child or children to draw a picture of what they remember you doing most, what would it be?  Would it be you in the kitchen in an apron whipping up something special for your family?  Would it be you teaching your child or playing with them?  Or would it rather be you sitting down at your computer?  Why not ask your child to draw that picture of what they see you doing the most of?  It just may be a turning point for your life.

What kind of legacy are we leaving behind to be remembered of?  What do you have to SHOW for your life?  What are your skills, talents and things you have accomplished in your life?  What will your children, husband and family and friends say about you when you die?  Will you be remembered as a mother devoted to her family or will you be remembered as a woman who all she ever did was sit around and do nothing?  What kind of legacy do you want to leave behind?

We can be so busy with the wrong things and I've not only seen it in my life but others.  Some are so busy that they tell me they don't have time to teach their children, they don't have time to make homemade products and they don't have time to keep their house clean.  I'm wondering - what in the world are they doing with their time!? How can I and many, many others homeschool for hours a day, make homemade meals, keep our house clean and still find time to learn new things when they can't do even one of those?  There is nothing "special" about me or others that do such, we all have the same hours in a day.  The answer is simply that they are busy with the wrong things.

I just put this on our Motivated Mentality blog, it is an old post but one that is worth repeating:


Father,

Help me take an honest look at what legacy I'm leaving behind.

Will anyone be different because of the way I've lived my life?

Will anyone be closer to you because of the way I've used my time?

Will someone have eternal life because I've introduced them to Jesus?

Will anyone have hope because of seeing Jesus in me?

Father, the older I get (and the more loved ones who leave this life)the more I realize how short my time is.

I don't want to waste this precious life You've given me.

I know I will stand before You someday and will be accountable for how I used the time You gave me.

I don't want to wait for someday. Show me now, while I still have time to readjust my priorities.

Is too much of my time spent on collecting things that won't even be a thought a hundred years from now?

Do I waste hours on needless worry, guilt and fear?

Am I listening too much to the temptations of this world or do I recognize them quickly and move on?

What portions of my day are spent on loving You, on serving others in Your love, or on myself?

Am I spiritually balanced?

Will you be pleased with the way I'm spending my life?

Am I keeping my focus on You?

Help my legacy be a life which points to a joyful life with You, so it will last long after everyone has forgotten who I am.

Author Unknown