A Holy habit....
Is anyone else as stunned as I am that September has come and gone? How can that be? October is here and inevitably you know that means the holidays are going to come barreling toward us at a very fast pace. School began, our schedule is just a bit trickier this year as if having one vehicle wasn’t challenging enough. Just to give you an idea of what the typical week is like for me, well, here is it in a nutshell:
5:30am My alarm goes off and I hit the snooze button typically an average of 3 times. Somewhere between 6:00-6:10 am I drag myself out of bed and stumble to the restroom.
6:45am the older two kiddos are heading out the door to catch the bus for the middle/high school. Coffee is on by now, and I’m well into my morning prep routine for the work day.
7:00ish am—Ryan gets Chloe up and dressed, and she rolls over back to sleep in our bed, and next is getting AJ out of bed and ready for the day. Hopefully by 7:05am he is up and eating some breakfast. Hopefully.
7:20 am-my goal to be out the door and headed to work as my workday starts at 8:00am if we have the blessed joy of the use of my Mom’s Honda. If not, then I get a ride from a coworker. If I can’t get a ride, then somehow we get the two youngers in the van and Ryan takes me to work.
7:45 am-hopefully Ryan gets AJ out the door to the bus stop. Bus arrives at 8:05 am, and then Ryan’s off to drop Chloe at daycare.
8:30 am-Ryan arrives at work and his day begins.
3:30-4:00ish pm—Older 3 kiddos arrive home from school on the buses.
5:00 pm-My work day ends, and if I drove myself, that means I can go get Chloe and head home.
5:30 pm-Ryan’s work day ends, and we see him at home around 6:00 pm.
Lunch time switch up—On the days we have to juggle with one vehicle, Ryan comes to get me at work at lunch time, then I take him to work and keep the van so I can get Chloe from daycare by 5:30 pm when they close. Arriving late to daycare results in an additional $5.00 for every ten minutes you are late past 5:30 pm. Fantastic. On the days we have the blessed joy of the use of my Mom’s Honda, this doesn’t push my need to get from work to daycare in 10 minutes.
Tuesday nights-Ryan finishes work at O’Reilly at 5:30 pm, then heads to Palen to teach guitar lessons from 6:00-7:30 pm. Will typically get home around 8:00 pm.
Wednesday nights-work day ends, pick up kids from home and inhale some dinner in the van on the way to be there for Bible Study starting at 6:15 pm. Usually home around 7:45-8:00 pm depending on if we have worship team rehearsal or not.
Thursday nights-Ryan has a guitar student at home. Bailey has Drama Club after school so thankfully the Grandparents help us by picking him up and getting him home.
Side note: For those of you who have the ability to get dinner on the table the same time every night, well, good for you. This Mama hopes to get dinner on the table with some helpful participation and assistance by the family by 6:30-7:00pm. When Mom’s got to work full time job outside the home, it is absolutely necessary to her sanity to delegate the responsibilities of keeping our home running smoothly. There is much I prefer to do myself, but who am I kidding? I cannot and shall not attempt to do it all myself. I know my limits and when it gets to the point that I think I’m gonna spontaneously combust or I need to get away by myself to some remote beach on an island for a week….God knows better than anyone in those moments while I am thankful He sustains me, I could very well lose it completely at any given moment.
Friday night-Freeman family fun night which typically involves movies, games, just a whole lot of some kind of fun for our family after a very busy week.
Saturday-Ryan teaches at Palen 10:30-12:30, usually home by 1:30 pm unless a student cancels or reschedules. As soon as he is home, we run errands, including getting groceries, and prepare for big home dinner and perhaps kids will have a friend sleepover. Sometimes Ryan plays at Enoch’s BBQ, or we go on a date, get together with friends/family, etc.
Perspective-We are in the middle of a debt snowball plan so the insane schedule we keep is not ideal but necessary to meet the goal we have set for ourselves, a goal we have been deeply convicted to meet and to establish long term freedom. We are living like nobody else so that we can live like nobody else! Freedom is on the horizon, but it requires extremely hard work on our parts for awhile.
Sunday—If all goes well, we are headed out the door by 7:25 am, but who are we kidding? The fact that we have 4 children should be enough reason to understand this family is rarely out the door on time. And it doesn’t help that none of us are early risers. Seriously. Family of night owls here. Just keeping it real. We are a work in progress.
We love worship and we love what we are doing at The Crossing, so Sunday is the best day of the week! We have a great lifegroup and we are finding God’s hand evident in everything we are doing. It is a great place to be, helps set the tone for the rest of our week for sure. Sunday afternoon arrives and it is as if the world as everyone knows it simply disappears….we are relaxed, we are restful, we are napping, we are enjoying the day God established as a day of rest. It is really too bad we can’t have 2 Sundays. Monday’s arrival is not one we jump up and down about in our house. It is a brutal reminder of the reality of life and what we must do whether we want to or not.
I just read a great article on the habit of worship, living it, breathing it, making it something we realize automatically. I thought it was particularly good when he talked about considering the alarm going off not with the typical dread and reaction to hit the snooze and sleep another hour, but to associate our alarm signal with our habit of morning worship. Not saying it is easy, and he points out how it really isn’t often our preference to read our Bible or pray, because we get busy doing other things like enjoying reading a great book of fiction, listening to our favorite tunes, sleeping in rather than rising early to pray. Some would say they feel the opposite here, that they can’t wait to open their Bibles, pray for hours on end, and rise before the sun to spend time in meditation with the Lord. I get that, but it isn’t my nature. No judgement here, just pointing out the reality of our unique make up as human beings, that we all have different interests and preferences. So, how do we make worship a daily habit, not as mediocre as brushing our teeth, eating a meal, getting dressed, etc. but a Holy habit? After all, as we live this life, it is a journey. We will never be perfect, holy, righteous in our human state on this earth but we are continually striving toward the goal of being like Christ.
Whatever you do, whether you eat or drink or not, do it all to the glory of God! 1 Corinthians 10:31(The Voice Translation)
Our time is precious, and most of us in this day and age are busy, rushing from one thing to the next, and hoping to find some time at the end of our busy day to simply collapse. How much more important for us to consider how we are spending our precious time, how much of it we are committing to our heavenly Father? Is our first and last thought upon Him? Is our focus and our center through the day on Him? Find your Holy habit today and discover the difference it can make for you in a lifestyle of worship.
5:30am My alarm goes off and I hit the snooze button typically an average of 3 times. Somewhere between 6:00-6:10 am I drag myself out of bed and stumble to the restroom.
6:45am the older two kiddos are heading out the door to catch the bus for the middle/high school. Coffee is on by now, and I’m well into my morning prep routine for the work day.
7:00ish am—Ryan gets Chloe up and dressed, and she rolls over back to sleep in our bed, and next is getting AJ out of bed and ready for the day. Hopefully by 7:05am he is up and eating some breakfast. Hopefully.
7:20 am-my goal to be out the door and headed to work as my workday starts at 8:00am if we have the blessed joy of the use of my Mom’s Honda. If not, then I get a ride from a coworker. If I can’t get a ride, then somehow we get the two youngers in the van and Ryan takes me to work.
7:45 am-hopefully Ryan gets AJ out the door to the bus stop. Bus arrives at 8:05 am, and then Ryan’s off to drop Chloe at daycare.
8:30 am-Ryan arrives at work and his day begins.
3:30-4:00ish pm—Older 3 kiddos arrive home from school on the buses.
5:00 pm-My work day ends, and if I drove myself, that means I can go get Chloe and head home.
5:30 pm-Ryan’s work day ends, and we see him at home around 6:00 pm.
Lunch time switch up—On the days we have to juggle with one vehicle, Ryan comes to get me at work at lunch time, then I take him to work and keep the van so I can get Chloe from daycare by 5:30 pm when they close. Arriving late to daycare results in an additional $5.00 for every ten minutes you are late past 5:30 pm. Fantastic. On the days we have the blessed joy of the use of my Mom’s Honda, this doesn’t push my need to get from work to daycare in 10 minutes.
Tuesday nights-Ryan finishes work at O’Reilly at 5:30 pm, then heads to Palen to teach guitar lessons from 6:00-7:30 pm. Will typically get home around 8:00 pm.
Wednesday nights-work day ends, pick up kids from home and inhale some dinner in the van on the way to be there for Bible Study starting at 6:15 pm. Usually home around 7:45-8:00 pm depending on if we have worship team rehearsal or not.
Thursday nights-Ryan has a guitar student at home. Bailey has Drama Club after school so thankfully the Grandparents help us by picking him up and getting him home.
Side note: For those of you who have the ability to get dinner on the table the same time every night, well, good for you. This Mama hopes to get dinner on the table with some helpful participation and assistance by the family by 6:30-7:00pm. When Mom’s got to work full time job outside the home, it is absolutely necessary to her sanity to delegate the responsibilities of keeping our home running smoothly. There is much I prefer to do myself, but who am I kidding? I cannot and shall not attempt to do it all myself. I know my limits and when it gets to the point that I think I’m gonna spontaneously combust or I need to get away by myself to some remote beach on an island for a week….God knows better than anyone in those moments while I am thankful He sustains me, I could very well lose it completely at any given moment.
Friday night-Freeman family fun night which typically involves movies, games, just a whole lot of some kind of fun for our family after a very busy week.
Saturday-Ryan teaches at Palen 10:30-12:30, usually home by 1:30 pm unless a student cancels or reschedules. As soon as he is home, we run errands, including getting groceries, and prepare for big home dinner and perhaps kids will have a friend sleepover. Sometimes Ryan plays at Enoch’s BBQ, or we go on a date, get together with friends/family, etc.
Perspective-We are in the middle of a debt snowball plan so the insane schedule we keep is not ideal but necessary to meet the goal we have set for ourselves, a goal we have been deeply convicted to meet and to establish long term freedom. We are living like nobody else so that we can live like nobody else! Freedom is on the horizon, but it requires extremely hard work on our parts for awhile.
Sunday—If all goes well, we are headed out the door by 7:25 am, but who are we kidding? The fact that we have 4 children should be enough reason to understand this family is rarely out the door on time. And it doesn’t help that none of us are early risers. Seriously. Family of night owls here. Just keeping it real. We are a work in progress.
We love worship and we love what we are doing at The Crossing, so Sunday is the best day of the week! We have a great lifegroup and we are finding God’s hand evident in everything we are doing. It is a great place to be, helps set the tone for the rest of our week for sure. Sunday afternoon arrives and it is as if the world as everyone knows it simply disappears….we are relaxed, we are restful, we are napping, we are enjoying the day God established as a day of rest. It is really too bad we can’t have 2 Sundays. Monday’s arrival is not one we jump up and down about in our house. It is a brutal reminder of the reality of life and what we must do whether we want to or not.
I just read a great article on the habit of worship, living it, breathing it, making it something we realize automatically. I thought it was particularly good when he talked about considering the alarm going off not with the typical dread and reaction to hit the snooze and sleep another hour, but to associate our alarm signal with our habit of morning worship. Not saying it is easy, and he points out how it really isn’t often our preference to read our Bible or pray, because we get busy doing other things like enjoying reading a great book of fiction, listening to our favorite tunes, sleeping in rather than rising early to pray. Some would say they feel the opposite here, that they can’t wait to open their Bibles, pray for hours on end, and rise before the sun to spend time in meditation with the Lord. I get that, but it isn’t my nature. No judgement here, just pointing out the reality of our unique make up as human beings, that we all have different interests and preferences. So, how do we make worship a daily habit, not as mediocre as brushing our teeth, eating a meal, getting dressed, etc. but a Holy habit? After all, as we live this life, it is a journey. We will never be perfect, holy, righteous in our human state on this earth but we are continually striving toward the goal of being like Christ.
Whatever you do, whether you eat or drink or not, do it all to the glory of God! 1 Corinthians 10:31(The Voice Translation)
Our time is precious, and most of us in this day and age are busy, rushing from one thing to the next, and hoping to find some time at the end of our busy day to simply collapse. How much more important for us to consider how we are spending our precious time, how much of it we are committing to our heavenly Father? Is our first and last thought upon Him? Is our focus and our center through the day on Him? Find your Holy habit today and discover the difference it can make for you in a lifestyle of worship.
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