TAKE INVENTORY

Your calendar reveals what you really believe is important. For the next few days, list on paper how you spend your time, noting every task, interruption, and phone call--and every time you check your email! What are you actually doing with your time? Does it center on the big rocks, the priorities? Or is there a lot of gravel in your schedule--time-wasters or activities that you could delegate to someone else? Classify each activity according to its significance in this season of your life.

Now list those priorities, those big rocks. Use your list to evaluate other opportunities that most surely will come your way. Are these options compatible with your big rocks? Then, each day, sit quietly before the Lord and ask, "What small rocks do I need in my jar today? What tasks can I do today which will move us along in the direction You have shown us?"

After committing those tasks to the Lord each morning, ask Him to pour the water of His grace over all of your rocks, filling in every empty space, lubricating each sharp edge. When there are interruptions, He will be there in them, directing and fine-tuning your day. He will reveal which tasks can be delegated to others and which can be dealt with at a later time. He will help you discern which ones are important, and which ones are just gravel and sand that irritate but don't produce fruit. And as you are planning, don't forget to leave unstructured time for the delightful serendipities He loves to surprise us with.

YOU BECOME EFFECTIVE BY BEING SELECTIVE

"If you want your life to have impact, focus it! Stop dabbling. Stop trying to do it all. Do less. Prune away even good activities and do only that which matters most. Never confuse activity with productivity." (The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren)

Ingrid Trobisch tells us in Keeper of the Springs that as women, we want to make One Grand Sacrifice--saving our child from an on-coming train or something heroic. But what is needed is a string of small sacrifices--lullabies to be sung, flowers in the vase--these actions are the putty that holds together the mosaic of family life.

Don't despise the day of small things--there is a season when wiping runny noses and sorting laundry are the big rocks in your life. Don't yield to peer pressure. Don't try to copy what God is leading some other homeschool mom or dad to do. You are uniquely designed to live the life He has called you to. Dr. Jeff Myers reminds us, "Your greatest treasure, and your greatest contribution to the building of God's kingdom, doesn't come from trying to become something that you are not. It comes from identifying and living out that which God designed you to be."

God didn't do everything in one day. What makes me think I can do everything in one day? I still have unfinished projects. I still need to sift out the gravel and sludge in my jar. But when I drop my own list-making day plannings and make God my Day Planner, I find contentment and peace with what I do get done each day. "To every thing there is a season and a time to every purpose under heaven." (Ecclesiastes 3:1). Do today's work today. Don't let concern for tomorrow's work hamper today's.