Well hello there! Thanks for joining me today.  This week we’re talking about ordering our days.  Remember, I told you I didn’t have any sort of magic plan to make life smooth.  {Oh how I wish I did!!} Instead, we’re going to explore three basic concepts to provide a framework for ordering our days.

First up – establishing priorities.

Last week I shared how the idea of good v. best can often become a struggle for us.  Today I want to unpack that idea a little bit more and give you some practical guidelines for understanding and evaluating the priorities in your life and in the moments of your days.

Life Priorities

Let’s start with the big picture.  What are the main priorities of your life? We’re going to call these our values.  These are the relationships and ideas that provide the undergirding for everything else you do.  For me, these values include spiritual growth, family relationships, ministry, and learning.  I want these core values to be how I gauge the way I spend my time and order my life.  These are broad concepts which allow for various applications over the seasons of my life.

What are your life priorities?  What are the values you desire to frame the way you spend your time?

Seasonal Priorities

This is where we get a little more practical. Because I have a child at home, I tend to look at life in 8 to 10-week chunks. Whether you have a newborn or a teenager, you know how different life can be every three months, right?  My girl is in middle school and is very active in activities and personality. {She can’t sit still. LOL} She cheers and is in show choir … plus youth group, friends, and pre-algebra.  Basically, that means she has very little time left over for trivial things like cleaning her room. Ha! Our calendar is full of practices, games, trips, tests, and due dates for money.  Because of her schedule and my value of family relationships, I have made the decision not to travel or attend conferences this year. This is not a forever decision but for this season, the Lord has led me to be home.  

Our seasonal priorities are often more specific.  And this is also the place where the realistic understanding of life begins to come into play.  As much as I love to cook for my family, right now, due to ball games and a busy schedule at church, we are eating more Crock Pot meals and eating out more.  I could beat myself up for that or I can accept that for this season {and until she graduates from high school probably} our schedule is just going to be more hectic than I’d prefer.  Adjusting our expectations based on our reality is a key factor in living well!

What does this season of your life include? How do you need to adjust your expectations based on your reality?

Daily Priorities

Okay, this goes back to that action step last week: MITs! Again with the be realistic!! Today, for example, is a game day.  And it’s the day I go with our senior adults to sing at the nursing home. As much as I’d love to give the dog a bath today and as much as he really needs one, it’s not going to happen even though it’s on my to do list for today.  I’d also love to make some chocolate chip cookies for our new neighbors.  Another great idea and it fits into that life priority of ministry but it’s not going to happen today.  I have looked at my list for today {all 17 things on it!} and determined as long as I get a load of towels washed & dried, finish the author bio for one of my clients, and write this blog post, I’m good.

It’s easy to start thinking we need to do this and we should do that and we ought to be able to accomplish everything … but remember, we can’t! For me, I’ve found as long as I follow my pick three strategy, I can at least hold steady with all life throws at me.  Of course I love the days when I get more done than those three things.  And the truth is, most days I really do accomplish more.  But for the days when it’s all I can do to mark off three things, I don’t beat myself up.

Do you set specific priorities for each day? How does the idea of giving yourself freedom NOT to do everything make you feel?

So, whatcha think? Does this help you begin to see a bigger picture of abundant living? Come back tomorrow — I’ll be sharing about embracing {a little} chaos.

See you then!
Teri Lynne

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I hope you are finding this series encouraging and useful.  If you haven’t go ahead and subscribe to make sure you receive each day’s post in your inbox.

Oh and all my 31 Days of Living Well posts are indexed here. Just in case you want to bookmark that page for easy reference.