Last week, I invested a lot of my time and energy into getting our house more in order and getting our family into a new routine. It was a lot of work and honestly, there were multiple days that I didn’t want to put the effort into it.
But I kept at it and by the end of the week, our house looked so much better, our lives seemed a lot less chaotic, and I felt like I could breathe again. It felt so good.
However, it wasn’t the clean house, calmer days, or less cluttered drawers I was most happy with. It was the space this freed up in our lives… space to exhale, space to love each other better, space to look into a child’s eyes and listen, space to stop and invest time.
It’s easy to get caught up in the busy, busy, rush-rush, go-go pace of life. To constantly feel like you have to hurry through the moment to get to the next thing.
I get it that there are seasons when that’s just what you have to do. It’s finals week at school. Or you just had a baby. Or your grandmother is in the hospital. Or your friend was diagnosed with cancer.
Sometimes, we can’t slow the pace of life and we just have to go with it and power through.
But most of the time, I believe that we can choose to slow down.
We can choose to do less. To say no to the crazy, frantic pace. To put forth the effort to get better routines in place and less clutter in our homes and on our calendars so that instead of a hurried pace, we have a calm S-P-A-C-E.
Space to love that child who needs extra nurturing on a Monday morning.
Space to listen to our friend who is feeling discouraged and overwhelmed today.
Space to text or call our neighbor who is going through a rough patch.
Space to smile at the elderly person in front of us in the checkout lane.
Space to pray for someone who is struggling.
Space to share a kind word of encouragement.
Space to refresh our souls so we can better serve those around us.
S-P-A-C-E. It’s a beautiful thing!
Near the end of last week, as we were working on our morning chores, one of the kids found a copy of Silas’s very favorite books of all time: Goodnight Moon. We hadn’t read the book in months and we’d all sort of forgotten about it.
There were squeals of joy when it was re-discovered. And because I had space in my day, I was able to stop, snuggle with all three kids, and read the book aloud to them.
It was a simple thing — and it didn’t take a lot of time. But it was a beautiful moment in time. One that I will treasure in my heart for a long time.
I don’t want to miss out on these every day moments.
Related: Read this excellent post on why we need to stop being managers of our homes and instead start being nurturers of those in our home.
I can’t believe that I accomplished all of my goals again for the second week in a row. I think that might be the first time ever??!
It’s the last week before Christmas and, since we’ll be out of town all of next week visiting family in Kansas, we’re planning to keep it really simple this week and just focus on spending lots of time being together as a family. Because of this, I’m keeping my goals list very short, too.
Last week’s goals:
Marriage/Mothering/Homemaking Goals
1. Continue reading Unwrapping the Greatest Gift with the kids. Finish reading Nobody Loves Me.
2. Write a love note to Jesse.
3. Have a movie night with Jesse.
4. Watch a Christmas movie as a family.
5. Take the kids to The Gift of Christmas Tour.
Personal Goals
6. Work on reviewing and memorizing Romans 1 and Romans 2:1-5.
7. Finish at least two books.
8. Run or exercise at least 4 times.
9. Continue on with the Trim Healthy Mama plan.
10. Clean the house from top to bottom and blog about it.
This week’s goals:
Marriage/Mothering/Homemaking Goals
1. Continue reading Unwrapping the Greatest Gift with the kids. Start a new read aloud book.
2. Write a love note to Jesse.
3. Take the kids to the Christmas Ice Skating Show.
Personal Goals
4. Work on reviewing and memorizing Romans 1 and Romans 2:1-5.
5. Finish at least two books.
6. Run or exercise at least 4 times.
How did you do on last week's goals? What are your goals for this week? I'd love to have you share your progress on last week's goals and your goals for this coming week in the comments. Of, if you've blogged about it, leave your direct link below. Let's cheer each other on to live purposeful and productive lives! You can download a free customizable weekly goal-planning sheet here.
Download a free ebook from Michael Hyatt today on The 8 Strategies Super-Successful High Achievers Use to Prepare for the New Year. In this ebook you’ll:
- Learn the one quality nearly every high achiever has in common. (Hint: it has nothing to do with willpower!)
- Understand why doing more and saying "yes" to every opportunity may actually be hurting your success — and what these high achievers have learned about the power of doing less
- Get exclusive access to the specific tricks and life hacks these high-achievers use to get clear and organized, so you can finally take control of your calendar
Download your free ebook here.
P.S. I’m honored to be apart of the group of people asked to participate in this project. However, I cracked up when I saw that they are calling the people involved “Super-Successful High Achievers”.
Why? Because I sort of “bombed” my goals for 2014.
It was a good year. It was a growing year. And it was a year that our family made some really healthy changes that have paid off in big dividends for us as individuals and as a family unit.
However, I severely underestimated how much time and energy those changes and that growth would require. As a result, I’m only going to complete a few of my 2014 goals.
But honestly? I’m okay with that. The growth and health of our family is worth so much more than getting most of my goals checked off my list.
{I’ll share more on what I’ve learned about goal-setting this year and how I’m changing my goal-setting for 2015 after Christmas.}
