I imagine all the moms everywhere declaring, “If I only had more time.” Calendar squares stuffed to the brim followed by requests for playdates, coffee meetups, and school events that don’t make it on the calendar add to the frenzy. Hope shines eternal when an unexpected gap makes its way into the daily schedule. But this is life before. You know “BC”–before the coronavirus. I can almost hear the collective sigh of all the moms as they realize their once full calendar is now empty.

I am well beyond the years of raising littles and trying to manage a daily calendar that would be better off imploded most days. Even still when I look at my empty calendar bittersweet feelings well up on a daily basis. The new-found blessing of extra time does not always feel like a gift. For many of you, the calendar is empty but the days are still busy. The learning curve is extreme as you fight your way toward an understanding of distance learning to help your children. Common core math is running rampant and as a parent, all you want to do is lean into the way it used to be with “carrying the one”.

Let’s pause today and explore this place of extra time.

Jump on the Bandwagon

It took me well into adulthood to understand my choices did not need to align with the choices of the crowd. As parents, we many times, set our eyes on the ones who appear to be doing it well. We follow their lead and find out we are nothing like them. Jumping on the bandwagon of busy based on other people’s choices is not the way we should go. Our already busy life becomes frantic and we hear ourselves saying “If only I had more time”.

I’m here to tell you that we do have the time. We have always had the time and we will continue to have room in our schedules if that is what we desire.

God has granted us a reprieve from busy that was not our choice at all, but His. He has taken a moment in time and pressed pause on how we conduct our daily lives. God cleared our calendars and at the same time made room for you and me to change how we go about our normal day. I find this is the perfect time to jump on the bandwagon of new choices. We are creating family memories of togetherness, new ways to complete math problems, and we have the opportunity to gather up these changes and carry them into the next season.

What Do We Do Next?

In January, God spoke the word “steward” into my heart. A word I wanted to pretend was not chosen for me. And now that we are in the thick of April, I am learning how appropriate the word “steward” is for you and me. Time is in the excess as we hunker down in our homes with nothing to take us outside the usual highlighted and dated squares on our calendars. Can I just share that I have goosebumps as I think of the goodness of God and how He orchestrated an unbelievable way for all of us to learn how to steward our time?

Maybe like me, after weeks of shelter in place, you have adopted a new rhythm. Mornings are not as rushed as you ease into your day. Maybe it’s as simple as staying in your pajamas well into the morning. And mommas of littles, maybe mornings still feel harried, but do you feel a hint of gratefulness that family times are just a little sweeter these days?

So…what do we do next? How do we carry out these newfound rhythms when our governors lift some of the current bans? Do we rush headlong into what we knew before or do we think twice before busy becomes our guide again?

I wish I could sit across the table from you right now and we could sip our favorite hot beverage and discuss what we hope our lives will look like from here on. We would laugh at all the silly things we thought about and did during shelter in place. Then our hearts begin to beat with gratitude as we lean into how God was faithful during this time. The truth of the hard and the sweet memories intersect as God reveals He was with us the whole time.

And God Says …

Let’s jump on the bandwagon of:

Increased quiet time with God

Keeping pockets of time free just because.

Holding onto new rhythms for our days going forward instead of letting our calendars rule us.

Pausing to discover the wonder of it all.

Thanking God for each new day even when it looks just like the day before.

And changing our status from “if I only had more time” to “I want to make time for you”.

As our country begins to ease up on shelter in place restrictions and slowly open up businesses, let's pause and answer the question, "where has God been faithful through all of this?" #TellHisStory #linkup Share on X

As we begin to ease into what’s next for our country and families, let’s take time to answer the question, “where has God been faithful?”

Would you be so kind as to share your answer in the comments?

Holding fast to the One who holds us!

Photo by Debby Hudson on Unsplash

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