Disciplining myself to plan out my day took years of training. I would get a good schedule written down, and I'd follow it for a few days. Then I would get distracted, so I'd try again! I tried to follow a schedule and failed over and over again for years. But I knew it was what I needed, so I just kept trying. Now my life is so scheduled I can hardly believe I used to forget to do school. :)
Scheduling isn't just good for homeschoolers. In his book, The Teenage Years of Jesus Christ, Jerry Ross quotes a pastor who said, "The longer I live, the more convinced I am that the key to a successful Christian life is living by schedule." Mr. Ross says, "To become a disciple of Christ requires discipline - the discipline to do, not just hear. Without a specific schedule and the character to follow that schedule, you will soon forget what you have learned... The desire to live like Jesus cannot be just a fad or a phase. It must be the most important goal of life, a goal that will only be reached when we discipline ourselves to live on purpose and on schedule"
I know for myself, if I don't plan to read my Bible, it won't happen. If our family doesn't schedule a time for praying together and memorizing scripture, other things will suck up all our time. The important things in life will always get pushed aside by what seems necessary at the moment. Then we will look back and wish we had lived our life differently. How does the Lord want us to spend our time? Let's make a list of things that the Lord has put on our hearts to do and to teach our children, and then let's figure out what time of day we are going to do those things. At first, it will be painful and laborious, but over time we will adjust to the schedule. Then when we look back over our week, we won't have regrets, which becomes the motivation to keep on keepin' on! :)
4 comments:
I've been on that scheduling roller coaster, just ask my kids. You are so right though, if we don't plan for those things we want to teach/do with our children then they don't happen. Thanks for the encouragment, Mindy.
One thing I've learned is that the schedule needs adjustments often. Usually with every season change. The major things don't change very often, but the schedule definitely needs to be managed. No matter how perfect your schedule may seem at the time, life happens and things change. And I had to learn that that was OK. :)
Thanks for your comment, Theresa. It's always nice to hear from people! :)
Was stopping by to read your last post (again for the 3rd time!) and decided to re-read this one as well. :)
Our schedule seems to do pretty good when Scott is on the road but when he is home that sort of all gets thrown out the window. We still fit everything in but it might be more car schooling on the way to take his truck somewhere to get fixed or we might take a day off when he's home and school on Saturday when he's gone. Being flexible when Scott is home, is important to him and so we make it work. Now, having said that... I personally need to be more disciplined with a morning schedule (getting up. I am reading two books by Elisabeth Elliot right now and in one of them she addresses this very thing. Her advice, "Put your feet on the floor." :) I might just have to move my alarm clock, lol.
Have a wonderful week!!!
Getting our feet to the floor...yes, that is good advice! :) Moving the alarm clock helps too! :) Mike and I have found cell phone alarms to work quite well. You can move the phone around to different places and change the sound of the alarm...keeps things interesting and prevents the "door on the hinges" routine. :) Even our children use our old cell phones for morning alarms. :)
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