Time Management for Christian Mothers: Christian Mother, #2

By Cheryl Carter

In this practical book Christian mothers will learn how to organize their home and time such that they can get more done during the day. Busy and homeschooling mothers will like this approach, which encourages mothers to order their homes and at the same time make their homews, neat, orderly and God inspiring.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Cheryl Carter
• Release date: Aug 9, 2018
• ISBN: 9781386365532

Cheryl Carter

Cheryl Carter is a busy homeschooling and work-at-home mother with a passion for prayer. She enjoys encouraging other mothers to passionately pursue God to such a degree that their homes and families are transformed. Active in her local church, Cheryl is also the co-creator of the Meaningful Moments prayer journals. She and her husband regularly speak at marriage conferences and family retreats. Visit www.FamilySuccess.org and www.themeaningfulmoment.com for more information.

Book preview

Part I

Cast all your cares on the LORD

and he will sustain you.

Psalm 55:22

Order Begins in Your Home

D

iscussing putting a home in order just does not seem spiritual. After all, what’s so spiritual about scrubbing crud out of a dirty toilet? Yet, organizing your home is the best place to begin, because our homes must be in order before we can deal seriously with any spiritual discipline. Have you ever tried to pray seriously in a cluttered room or been distracted by the filth on the carpet as you worshipfully bowed during quiet time? A clean and orderly home is paramount to spiritual growth.

You cannot get your inner life in order when your outer life is a mess. I’ve learned over the years, when it comes to mothers, there’s one thing we need more than anything else but few of us would admit it. We need to control our environment. Don’t get me wrong, control is not an inherently bad thing, because mothers typically are controlled by so many other things—the dirty laundry, the meals, the late night soccer games. They all scream out for our attention.

Everything vies for our time and tries to control us. We instinctually feel the urge to take back the reigns. Every mom knows what I’m talking about. We carry our children in us for forty weeks, and they spend the next six years learning to detach themselves. We nurse them day and night. They sit in our laps or cling to our hips while we’re cooking dinner. Inquisitive preschoolers camp at the bathroom door until we come out. Even though the umbilical cord was cut at birth, our children spend six years getting used to the idea. I am not whining, just stating my case for why we crave control.

Actually, nearly everyone wants to control something. It is part of our fallen nature. But it is not long after we bring that baby home from the hospital that we discover s/he controls us. And so the struggle begins. I make this point because over the years in my time-management and organizing workshops (relax, I’m not one of those neat freaks; I am a recovering messie myself, and I think I won’t be completely cured until my last child goes off to college), I’ve found mothers need to get some control of their environment before they can seriously deal with inner issues of spiritual growth.

Be honest with me. Aren’t there times when the dirty dishes keep you from sitting at the feet of Jesus? Or the furry orange-sized lint ball on the carpet distracts you even as you worshipfully bow your knee to give God glory? I know it does me! Denial gets us no where. We must deal with the problem. Some might say, why not go to Jesus first and ask Him how to clean and organize our homes? It sounds so spiritual. But the truth is, for most of us, He has been speaking to us and we just need to heed His words.

Organize Your Home

WE THINK CLEARER AND better in a clean and orderly environment. I guess I should explain why I am dealing with the home. While you can be anywhere and grow spiritually, it is primarily the home where moms spend the most time. Right? Therefore, it seems rather logical to begin here.

Gifted organized women should still stick around to hear what I have to say about organization because often I see two kinds of Christian moms. The first spends all her time keeping the home immaculate. You could eat off the kitchen floor—not that you would ever want to—but she takes great pride