An email friend shared this quote in an email to a group to which we both belong. I've not read this book, so be aware my comments are based on the author's quotes.

"A lot of us seriously miscalculate our time. We irrationally assume that we'll awake one month from now and will have finished with our current responsibilities and so will be able to take on new and weightier loads. So we commit today to tomorrow's debt by loading up more and more on today's plate. And though we are on overload today, we continue to load up for the future.

To compound the problem, we don't always have a say in what gets loaded on our plate and when. Unexpected developments--a new baby, a job loss, an illness, even a dog that follows you home--can add just enough to our plates to overload them. I know that I often fail to take life's surprises into account. I don't leave room in my schedule for emergencies. Instead I attempt to manage whatever comes along, confused as to why I am having trouble coping."

--The Time of Your Life by Susie Davis

Book Info and also on Amazon. Susie Davis' website and her blog.

So often we see the short term so much easier than the long term. I've noticed my husband is much more in tune with "way down the road" than the "here and now" while I've got it the other way around. I don't want to live "down the road" and get tired of waiting for the future to be able to achieve this or that. It's truly a combination of the two. Probably another reason why God puts certain couples together. We do complement and complete each other, or at the very least keep each other balanced and not too off of plumb.

Finding balance in the loads we take on can be hard. We can be pulled in so many different directions: home, husband, and child needs; extended family and church family expectations; education choices (outside classes, time at home for home instruction, and so forth). Choosing The Best over The Good can be difficult, especially when confronted with so many Good Choices around us. By loading more and more Good Things to our plate today, our stamina for tomorrow is greatly reduced. I know this is extremely easy to do for those with many children, but we with only one can still end up in the same boat, finding ourselves throwing math sheets at our child while we live in the car taking them to the next Good Thing In Which to be Involved. And as Ms. Davis wrote, unexpected things get piled upon us even after we've got our plate as full as we can manage.

Being Busy should not end up being a "Badge of Honor" or something that we use as a comparison rod with our friends as we sit over coffee, each topping the other on how busy we are. God has a design for each individual life, for each one's schedule--for each one's reality. We also have to realize that my reality won't be yours. I have noticed over the years that I can do two, sometimes three, major activities in a day, but any more and I'm exhausted and frustrated. For some moms, I've seen them accomplish ten or twenty activities in a day, whether these are in-home chores, outside errands, or a combination of the two. We are each made differently. There are moms who are natural go-getters and there are moms who are more quiet and methodical. Each group achieves what they should achieve, but both most likely feel as if they fail more often than not. It seems "the nature of the beast" within to not feel at peace about ourselves and what we achieve. I look forward to reading Susie Davis' book, to see how she confronts these issues. I liked this description from Amazon.com: "The way we spend our time says a lot about what we value. What does your schedule say about the things that are most important to you? Is busyness a buffer to keep you from hearing God?" Finding the balance in our time is so important, but even more so is to hear from God and find out what He wants us to achieve in the time He has set for us.

I'm in the middle of reading a book which I think might be a good match with Susie Davis' book. It's by Marilyn Rockett and is called Homeschooling at the Speed of Life. This book provides practical help with balancing home, school, and family, and comes with a companion CD which has lists, forms, and instructions to help you. She shows you her plan but does not expect you to follow her but guides you in discovering your own plan that works for you. With The Time of Your Life helping you to reevaluate the concept of time itself and what the Lord would have you do, I believe that Marilyn's book will help you develop a plan for what you do have to accomplish. I plan to speak more in depth about Homeschooling at the Speed of Life once I've completed reading it. There are already several gems that I want to share from Marilyn, but those will need to wait for another column. Be sure to stay tuned!

Here's Marilyn Rockett's website  and info about her book.

Donna Conner lives in Fort Worth, TX with her husband, Glenn, their son, Mike, and their dog, Lucia. Donna and Glenn have been homeschooling their son since the beginning of his education. Mike completes his homeschooling within the next two years. Donna is an artist and has always enjoyed writing. She wrote Homeschooling Only One three years ago, after discovering that there were many other families homeschooling only one child. Her website is devoted to those with only one student in their homeschool, with listings of online resources. You can visit her website at  http://donnac.com and read her blog at: http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/DonnaC

copyright © 2007 Donna Conner ~~ All rights reserved. Content may not be reproduced in any form without written permission of author, except in the case of brief passages embodied in critical reviews and articles where the title and author are listed.