The #1 Location To Spend More Of Your Time (Simplify Life Series – Part 1)
Simplify Life Series – Part 2 – 5 Suggestions For Living A Slower-Paced Life
There are so many books, articles, documentaries, and blogs dedicated to how we can simplify our lives in the 21st century. This must indicate that life simply has gotten too complicated. Too busy. Too hectic.
Deep in our souls, we all yearn for simpler days.
You may not even be able to imagine it. Like me, you may be so used to running your children to sports practices, music recitals, and friends, that you can hardly picture the family being together, relaxing at home for an evening. You may have become so accustomed to filling every moment of your time with checking social media, checking your emails, and checking your phone, that you can’t perceive of checking out for a few hours to delve into a good book.
Dear one, we are completely clueless of what a simple life can look like in this day and age. We can’t fathom the peace and tranquility that a slow paced life can bring. But we need to. At least to some degree. Think about it… why do we all love holiday seasons? It’s the slowing down, the lingering with loved ones, the spending far too long around our meal tables. That’s the reason we look forward to those times!
Looking back at yesteryear can give us some ideas of how to halt the neckbreaking speed of our days, and while it may be countercultural to incorporate some of those ideals into our weeks, I assure you, the racing, rushing, darting pace we find ourselves living in, will not be missed.
The #1 Location To Spend More of Your Time
Imagine a life where you condense the running around to perhaps two afternoons a week. Where besides going to your congregation and fellowshipping on a Sunday, most of your time is spent serving those within your home sphere.
Our children are growing up with distracted mothers... Click To TweetMothers who spend more time away than near them, while home life is neglected. It doesn’t have to be this way. Even in our day and age.
One of the most noticeable differences between way back when and modern life is that folks seemed to have had so much more time on their hands. They weren’t rushing off here, there and everywhere. They lingered in to spending time with one another other, and they were at home a lot more!
There weren’t as many choices of things to sign up for that would take them away from home. And since transportation wasn’t as readily available as it is today, people stayed with their families, in their comfortable surroundings, doing productive work and enjoying productive rest at home.
Because they spent so much more time at home, they spent more time with the people inhabiting their home. Relationships were closer, more fun was had together, there was opportunity to develop conversations and debates around the dinner table, and work within the household together.
The Trap of This Generation
I found myself falling into the trap of this generation over the past months. I seemed to be spending less and less time at home, and more and more time running franctically around town. I thank God for opening my eyes to where I was headed. My children were agitated instead of at peace, meals were thrown together instead of thoughtfully created, and quality time with one another seemed to be limited to a few moments here and there, in between what seemed like more pressing matters.
Not surprising when we are told this from the very Word of God:
Like a bird that strays from its nest
is a man who strays from his home.Proverbs 27:8
At the risk of sounding too idealistic, I know that life was never perfect for sinful man, but I truly believe that the if your pace of life is slower, and when the place of life is embraced, a far warmer, kinder, less stressful, and more loving environment will be fostered.
Take your time. At home.
Our schedules can become so hurried. And it happens ever so gradually. Busyness creeps in one opportunity at a time. Neglect of the haven that God gives us to nurture our loved ones slithers in unnoticed, becoming obvious only when we see large cracks in those very people whom we yearn to see thriving and whole.
The Elephant In the Room
Your mind may be wondering at this point to the elephant in the room. Perhaps the most glaring and obvious difference between this generation and any other is the introduction of technology. Rampant distraction, aggressively robbing every last chance of free and meaningful communication.
Dear, precious friend, I know full well it’s out there, but it doesn’t have to come into our homes – certainly not to the same degree as we think it does. Sure it takes us setting boundaries as parents, having to guard our children protectively from the habits that can take over their lives, but keeping the importance of eye contact and one on one communication as high priorities within our families are key. Put down your phone, check emails twice or three times a day, keep social media to a minimum – once the children have gone to sleep in the evening… Be present in the here and now.
Get back into home life. A slower, less distracted home life. Click To TweetSaying no to the mad rush that pulls you away from spending time with those you love most is a choice you will never regret. Your children will thank you (when they’re 30 :-))…
Begin today!
Make a list of all the activities that take you out of home each week. Note which you can remove from your life, and how you can condense others, so that you can be at home more. Let me know your discoveries 🙂.
