I was so excited to start this. Some of my best devotional times during college were when I was memorizing Scripture during my quiet time. I’d memorized Phillipians and Romans 5 way back then. But since motherhood, I haven’t had much success with that method. For one, I was trying to do too much, relying on the same schedule I used during college. Reading about Ann Voskamp’s plan helped me realize that I could tackle memorizing complete Scripture passages, just in smaller chunks and over a more extended time. So, greatly encouraged, I launched into this memory plan.

What I have loved most about it so far is the way it focuses my week on a particular passage, allowing me to meditate all through the week. Here are some of the beatitudes that have helped me to focus recently.

Blessed are the poor in spirit…focusing on utter dependence upon God.

Blessed are the merciful…focusing on mercy in my parenting and interactions with others.

Blessed are the peacemakers…focusing on bringing peace, especially to my family.

This week’s verse has had me meditating on becoming a peacemaker, and particularly with my children. As I’ve prayed over this passage in regard to my parenting, I was challenged on several levels. The first and obvious application was in how I parent my children’s daily conflicts, training them to reconcile with each other rather than strictly disciplining the quarrels.  I have found that the regular quarrels are much less irritating to me when I have a strategy in place to train peacemaking.

But on a deeper level, I’ve really been moved by my greater responsibility as a parent to reconcile my children to God. It is so easy to lose a salvation-focus in the midst of the day-to-day. After all, it seems that I endlessly teach the same lessons every day, discipline the same actions, clean the same messes. But as I prayed about becoming a peacemaker to my children, the big picture came into focus more often, helping me to really reach for their hearts, getting to the root issue of their actions instead of merely discipling behavior.

Overall, it has provided the thoughtful focus I’ve resolved to have each week and brought back the beauty of memorizing and meditating that I thought I’d had to sacrifice to motherhood.

Occasionally, I’ve seen snippets from the Super Nanny shows where a family is struggling with their children and calls in the help of an “expert.” And before I cast judgement on the family and their problems, a chill runs up my spine as I think, what would it be like to watch an entire day of my life and my interactions with my kids? Of course, some days would be awesome; but then, there are “those days.” Yet, it is “those days” that will teach my daughter most. Continue reading…

Rather than checking off my to-do lists I’m going to spend some time evaluating them, simplifying my life. What really needs to be done, and what is taking away from the most important things?

One area that I especially want to take a look at is blogging. Right now my blogging commitments looks like this:

• blog 2-3 times a week for Homekeepers
• blog 2 times a week for Praying Proverbs 31
• blog 5 times a week for Growing In Grace 
• blog 2 times a month for Growing Your Homeschool

Start adding up the writing time, my friends, and that is a lot of commitments. It’s difficult for me to slow down, because the whole goal of blogging is to get a readership. And the way to get readership is to blog reliably, with posts coming out several times a week. It’s not that I don’t have enough ideas, it’s that it takes time to put those ideas into words, edit the posts, upload the photos, link to the appropriate places, etc. And honestly, it’s consuming too much of my home life. I’ve spent a couple of mornings last week daydreaming about what it would be like to not blog at all, and suddenly I realized all of the time I would be gaining. I’m not going to stop blogging altogether, but I’m really going to work at limiting my blog commitments, at not blogging on a schedule but rather when I have time, at not placing such an emphasis on my number of views per day.

What does that mean for you? It means I might not have a post up every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I might post once a week, or I might post when I have a brilliant idea and the time to pull it together. But most importantly, I’m attempting to practice what this blog is all about, putting my God-given role first on my list of priorities.

I’m sure there are other areas on my to-do list that need the same evaluation, which is why I’m dedicating this week to the theme of simplicity, simplifying my life to make time for what’s most important. And I’m encouraging you to do the same! We live in such a fast-paced world that sometimes, we over-commit without ever even realizing it. Let’s all take some time to trim our to-dos, to make some sacrifices, and to focus on what really matters in life.

Then, how do you start? In other words, how do you address modesty without it becoming a personal affront? I’ll be honest, I don’t like people critiquing my appearance either. It stings. It’s humiliating. How do I affirm my daughter’s growing independence and guide her decisions?

Yes, my daughter is only three. But I’ve had to deal with this issue on so many different levels in ministry. It’s been a topic I’ve addressed in youth groups and teen girl ministries. And no matter where I’ve brought up the discussion, it tends to make the girls a little uncomfortable.

When to start…

The earlier the better. I was really surprised how soon my daughter caught onto the concept of “beautiful.” As soon as she could walk, she was toddling over to Daddy in her frilly dresses, eager for his compliments. Because modesty is more an issue of heart than standard, you can begin early. What is beautiful? What is important when we dress for church or for Daddy? Gradually, the training can go more in depth, but always angled at the heart.

Where to start…

If you are aiming at the heart, modesty training doesn’t begin with a standard (though standards do help to reinforce your training, and I heartily believe in having some dress standards). As I studied through Proverbs 31, I was intrigued with descriptions of her appearance: strength and honor were her clothing, and she makes for herself clothes of tapestry. She neither neglects her appearance, nor over-emphasizes it. She is clothed well, but her character is what catches the attention of others. Who she is defines and dictates what she wears. And never in the passage does the issue of sexuality come up. Clothing, in Proverbs 31, is all about revealing the heart beneath, the heart of a woman who fears the Lord.

I want my daughter to understand this. I want to be able to understand this, to be able to determine what is appropriate not by whether the collar is round or v-neck, but by the character I reflect when I wear it.

Does my daughter’s heart yearn for the favor of God or for the praise of men (and women)? If I haven’t reached her heart, then all the standards will be for naught.

In the dressing room…

We can’t ignore, however, that there is a practical application to our training, that modesty does—at some level—adopt a standard. And I think a profitable way to teach our young ladies is by preparing them for the dressing room. When your daughter tries something on, does she know what she is looking for? Is she merely assessing the fit? Or are there other things to check for?

One of the things I liked to do for the young teen girls I worked with was to provide them with a dressing room checklist to keep in their wallet. I’m sharing what I came up with, understanding that standards do vary. I’ll hope you’ll take the idea and craft it to your specific needs.

In the end, whether we decide that skirts should reach just above the knee, below the knee, or at the ankle, may we all pray that our young ladies will be clothed in a character that reflects God with a heart to please Him above all others.

For more prayers on modesty and other heart issues, read Praying Proverbs 31: prayers for a daughter’s virtue.

I put my summer recipes in a folder and inserted my winter recipes, for one. That alone was a huge improvement. Then, I took a few more steps toward re-organization.

I went through my entire binder and made two stacks:

One pile to trash

One pile to update

Then, after trashing my list of old projects, I made a new list of projects and included those forms that either need to be updated now or will need to be updated after the baby arrives, things like a babysitting schedule, our trip list for travel and day trips, etc.

I also went through the categories in my notebook to see what I still used. For instance, instead of a calendar in my notebook, I have upgraded to Google calendar, which allows my husband and I to sync and share our events and schedules. This has been so much more effective than my futile attempts to write everything down.

Last, I inserted my new planner forms and began filling them out for this week. Ahhh. I feel better already. One small step for me, one giant leap for my household routine!

Don’t forget to check out my other household notebook links and link up to my household notebook blog roll.

I’ve been inspired by a couple of different blogs over the last couple of weeks, and as I’ve read what the Lord is doing in their lives, I was moved to adapt some of the same goals and priorities.

Erica, at one of my favorite blogs, has mentioned that her goal for the new year is to be more focused, more intentional and deliberate. I admired the goal, acknowledged that I could definitely use a little more focus in my life and in my new year, and tried to leave it at that. But God keeps bringing the thoughts back to me. How can I be more focused this year?

Then, over the weekend, another of my favorite blogs posted some free printable planner pages. But these pages included more than just a spot to track your daily to-dos. The Week-at-a-Glance page included a spot for your weekly focus and a Bible verse, as well as space to list personal goals for the week. The accompanying Daily page incorporated these weekly goals even further with spots to right down the specific relationship you wanted to focus on that day and the verse you were memorizing.

I suppose what I loved most about the forms was the opportunity to focus my life, to be intentional with my week—not merely so that I could check off all my to-dos but that my real priorities (God, family) wouldn’t get lost in the midst of all my doing.

For this week’s motivation, I’m listening to the Lord’s leading and adapting a renewed focus for each week of my year. Care to join me?