Is the To Do List our Modern Day Mama’s Idol?

 

   S L O W  D O W N

I have two older kids which gives me a precious thing called hindsight.

Can I tell you one thing about hindsight... you tend to remember the things that made the biggest impact on you. It’s funny how it’s not the perfectly taught lessons that I remember most. It’s the slow mornings, it’s the cuddles, the reading books together, the seeing my kids and...being seen by them too. 

Mama, slow down...it’s okay. 

It’s still amazes me how many things can run through my mind that I need to do the minute my feet hit the floor in the morning. The one thing I need to do most, is the one thing that I seem to give myself permission to put off. This idea that there will be time later to read the word might be one of the biggest tactics in the enemies morning basket!  (There’s some homeschooling lingo for you.) 

 

There are so many things pulling at us. There’s an endless to do list. There’s the perfectly curated homeschool day that we have planned, the cleaning, cooking, lesson planning, book ordering, laundry, errands...it never stops!

Checking off that to do list somehow becomes an idol in our minds.

How can I call it an idol? Well, an idol is anything that we put above God in our hearts. And if we are putting off spending time with God to focus on that list, then are we not putting it above him?

This morning I opened my Bible to read James 3. James talks about how important it is that we are consistent in her words. James tells us that out of the same mouth come blessings and curses to the very people that were created in the image of God.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think we’re cursing at our children.  But what are we saying? Are we blessing them?  Are we speaking kindness?  

If you’re anything like me I speak better after I’ve been in the presence of the Lord. I speak life when I’ve been infused with life. I love better when I feel loved. I demand less when I feel whole inside.

Mommas, let us not put that to do list or that perfect homeschooling plan ahead of time with the Lord. If it means our mornings need to be more slow and relaxed, then let them be. Fight for the time to be with your maker. Learn about the creator, don’t just teach the created.

I took this picture as I sat down this morning, next to my stack of books I was in the middle of putting away the night before on one side, and my breakfast & coffee on the other. 

Listen, I’m right in the thick of it with you and I don’t always choose right, but I try to remember...There will always be things. 

Together, let’s choose him above all the things today.