Quiet Time

It only took me 31 years (and after my third baby made her way here) to really get why moms would NEED quiet time. And why getting up an hour or two before the kids and enjoying a hot cup of coffee before the day really starts is so important. I used to hate getting up early, and hate being alone, so why in the world would I ever want to get up early just to be by myself. Made absolutely no sense to me whatsoever. But now, with a 5 year old girl talking non stop, and a one year old girl babbling non stop, and a 3 year old boy who is constantly moving. I need that quiet time. NEED. The days that I get it go so much more smoothly than those when I wake up with the kids. This is the time I like to pray. I try praying throughout the day but there are just SO many distractions, I can hardly finish a thought.

Ecclesiastes 4:6  Better is a handful of quietness than two hands full of toil and a striving after wind.

"Two hands full of striving after wind" is a really good way to describe the days I don't get in quiet time and prayer in the morning. I think I'll make this my quiet time verse.

Along these lines, going from two kids to three was harder for me than going from one to two.


Edited to add: A few hours after I posted this here my sister-in-law shared THIS article and it seems I am a highly sensitive parent. Who knew?

Contentment and Complaining

If there is one thing God has been drilling into my head these past few years it is contentment. Philippians 2:14 and 4:12-13 are constantly being brought to my mind. Along with questions like, "how do I not complain when the upstairs neighbor's dog's poop falls on our patio?" Or, "how am I supposed to be content with all 4 of us living in my one bedroom apartment, and I'm doing all our laundry by hand, when I hear others around me complain about all the laundry their washing machine has to do after they return home from taking a cruise?"

These helped me through this.

1) I deserve hell. I deserve much worse than whatever trails I am going through.

2) These trails are actually for my benefit. God loves me enough to put things in my life that make me turn to HIM.

3) I am constantly reminded of how much I need Christ and the gospel. I am as much in need of the gospel to live a Christian life, as I was in need of it to give me life.

4) All things come together for good to them that love God and are called according to His purpose.