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Then I felt the warm embrace of my husband, and heard the gentle rebuke of his voice.  "Julie, it is not that you need to give up anything.  Everything you do we have prayed about and planned for.  It is just that you need to do everything during its appointed time.  You should have done this baking last night, so that you wouldn’t be rushing around this morning." 

Don’t you just love husbands?  They always seem to have the right perspective.

Well, I decided to listen to the wisdom of my husband that day, and almost immediately I started feeling better.  Even though I had failed my family that morning, I wasn’t a failure, I was just a victim of poor time management!  Suddenly it didn’t matter that I had to give my children money to purchase a store bought Danish to bring to their party at the library.  It didn’t matter that it was 8:30 in the morning and I looked like death warmed over.  It didn’t even matter that I had spent all morning preparing food that no one could use (although we were able to eat my delicious monkey bread later on).  

All that seemed to matter to me at that moment was that I was given a new chance to accomplish great things  . . . after I cleaned up my current mess, of course.  And that is exactly what I spent the rest of my morning doing.

How many times in our lives have we tried so hard to do everything perfect, only to land flat on our face?  How many times do we start laundry on Friday, only to finish it on Tuesday?   How many times do we go to bed with chores undone, correspondence unanswered, and telephone calls that need to be returned?  Every one of us has days, (sometimes weeks), that are filled with chaos ~ this is just a natural part of regular life.  We only need to worry when chaos becomes the pattern of our regular life.   Then we are in trouble.  The key to avoiding this is allowing God to teach us to number our days.

So teach me to number my days Lord, that I may apply my heart unto wisdom.  Teach me to put first things first.  It is much bigger than serving You, my family, then others.  You must be a part of every facet of my life!  Teach me to rise early and spend my first moments alone with You.   This is where I gather my direction and strength for the day.  Teach me to be a helper to my family.  Help me to accomplish the many tasks that You have given to me in an orderly and timely fashion.  Help me to say no to wasting time on the telephone, leisure reading, and unnecessary errands.   There is so much that I must accomplish each day with my time.  Help me to be humble enough to accept help when I need it.  Sometimes I need an extra appliance, a helping hand from a friend or the children, and sometimes I need to hire someone to assist me in my responsibilities.  Help me to remember that I am a Home Manager, not just a hired hand.  Lord please teach me to learn how to relax.  Sometime I get so busy that I forget to take the time to sit for a moment and enjoy the time that You have given to me for rest.  Help me to spend more time eating right, exercising regularly, and grooming myself so that I feel good about the way that I look (especially in front of my family).   It is easy for me to forget about myself in the midst of serving others.  And Lord, please help me to bring all my troubles to You.  Sometimes I get involved with sticky situations and relationships, and it is easy form me to exhaust emotional energy that I simply can’t spare worrying about them.

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