My sweet friend Kortnee has an eye that notices the little things and a heart that feels the big things. We are blessed that she has written about them here. I am sad to say that her schedule is getting rather crowded and this will be one of her last posts.  I hope she will visit us from time to time.  She has so many great things to say.  For this post, and the next one, please be sure to leave a comment to tell her how much we will miss her!

I am the type of person who has a hard time saying no. If there is something going on and I’m available, I’m there. When I don’t have this habit of mine under control, my days, weeks, and months become quickly packed too full and I’m running around doing things all day and I get worn down. And inevitably something I really wish I could do comes up and I can’t because I’m too busy, just like Britta wrote about in her “Ten Things Your To-Do List Should Say” post.

Not only does my body become tired but my relationship with my husband is distant and far off. And more importantly, my personal time with the Lord is the last thing on my mind. This is a dangerous and scary valley to try to get out of (but one you need to be persistent in escaping!)

My job, being a doula, is really teaching me that I need to be more consistently available because I must be on-call for a couple weeks surrounding a birth. If I wasn’t able to leave at a moment’s notice, I would be failing to do my job of being with the mother to give her support.

But how would my schedule look if I supported myself,
instead of running myself into the ground?

• Starting my day off in the Word means I can spend the rest of the day looking through the lenses of the Bible and not the lenses of Netflix.
• Setting aside time to really pray and talk to God means I am acknowledging him for being Lord over my life and I’m stepping back from the control seat and handing the reigns over to him.
• Carving out time with my husband means we can communicate, get on the same page with things going on in life, catch up, and reconnect.

And when I do all these things every day, I certainly notice a rejuvenation and a peace and order to my life. So why can’t I seem to stick with that?

Let’s be intentional.  Let’s take time to carve out the important things in our day. We’ll be amazed at how our other relationships and commitments can thrive when we are thriving in our top priorities.