Habits

Soon after becoming a new mom, I discovered my innate penchant for wasting time. Time which could not be wasted. I quickly learned I needed to prioritize my life and cut out unfruitful activities. It meant I had to look hard at what I truly valued and start the process of repositioning my life to match my values.

In my efforts to do this, I learned there’s a lot of “dead time” which could be used to develop in activities which, prior to having a child, I would have said I didn’t have time for.  For me, “dead time” involves doing activities that don’t require a lot of mental effort: getting ready in the morning, exercising, changing diapers, eating, folding clothes, cleaning the house. During these times, I could do something to grow vocationally or spirtually.

Paul, in Ephesians 5:16 (NASB), tells us to “make the most of our time because the days are evil.” Living in a fallen world means we have a propensity to waste time on activities which do not have true value, activities like surfing the internet, watching mindless TV programs, gossiping, worrying, etc. Because of this, we must intentionally do things which build us up.

For the next few Mondays for the rest of March and April, I’ll list ways we, as busy mothers, can buy time, despite our busy lifestyles. For many years, I was deceived into thinking that to do these activities would take GOBS of time which I don’t have. After praying about this issue and struggling with it, God showed me how easy and painless it is to engage in the disciplines I’ll be listing here.

So without further ado, here’s the first three activities we can do to make the most of our time. While getting ready in the morning, driving, changing a diaper, feeding a baby, or performing chores around the house, you can:

1) Listen to a good sermon or the audio Bible (I like Max McLean’s Listener’s Bible)

2) Memorize one verse of the Bible. Just carry an index card around with you with the verse printed out.)

3) Sing to your child. (This could be a song which has the double effect of learning: like the ‘ABC Song’ or teaching them a story/principle from the Bible: like a popular Sunday school song like ‘Jesus Loves Me’)

If anyone out there has any other ideas, feel free to leave a comment and I’ll include your idea in future posts (giving credit to you of course!). Also, if you leave an idea along with a blog link, I’ll include that in a future post as well.

Working on habits has been an ongoing process for me. This month, I’ve decided to work on a new habit. But really, truly, I’ve been working on this habit for years, it’s just that I haven’t gotten the habit ingrained in my daily routine yet. As I reread my old journals the other day I noticed that I’ve written the same thing over and over again:

Sleep by 9:30pm

Go to bed by 9:30pm

9:30pm – Light’s out.

This was easy for me to do when I was a child. My parent’s dictated when I went to bed, but now, not so much. Now, I dictate when the children go to bed…as for me…lights out for the children means work time for me.

Yet as the days, weeks and months progress, I’ve come to admit that this isn’t a formula for success. The average adult needs 7-8 hours of sleep a night. By staying up late to get things done, I’m cutting into valuable time to rest and rejuvenate.

And I’m reinforcing the negative habit of staying up late. Blech.

They {whoever ‘they’ are} say that it takes 21 days to develop a habit. But for me to get to bed by 9:30pm, it’s taken more like 72 months…and I’m still working on it.

MY NEW HABIT FOR APRIL-MAY: Go to bed by 10:00pm

Notice that I didn’t write I’ll go to bed by 9:30pm. 10:00pm seems more realistic for me, and perhaps over time I can work towards 9:30pm.

{Hint: When you want to set a goal or incorporate a new habit, start small.}

Would you like to join me? ‘d love to be an encouragement to you as you make positive changes in your life. {And I could us the support and accountability myself.}

If you are inspired, leave a comment for your new habit for April-May in the comments, or email me using the contact link if you’d like to keep it personal.

Let’s see if this works!

P.S. As you’ve noticed, my new habit making spans over two months. This is due to the fact that: #1 It’s the middle of the month and #2 It has taken me a while to work on this habit already. Now, I think it needs some focused effort over a longer period of time.