“So, what sport’s do your children play?” “Oh, are they involved in ….?” “What do you do for a living?” These are some of the first questions people ask you when they haven’t seen you in a long time or are just meeting you. They seem innocent enough, but sometimes I wonder. Are we a society that defines our identities by what our jobs are, what sports we play, and how busy we are? I think the hands down answer to that question is yes.

I’m writing this after a week whose schedule thus far looked like this:
Sunday: Sunday School, Church, Grocery Store, Laundry, Remove old King size mattress from house, Drive to Bel Air to pick up car we are borrowing from in-laws, PT ‘at home’ work for old boss, Youth Group
Monday: Get up at 5:45am for work, kids out the door, work ’til 5-5:30, bring in new king size mattress, make dinner, clean up, check homework, watch a TV program, go to bed
Tuesday: Same as Monday except throw in a Lacrosse clinic for my daughter in Catonsville from 8pm-9:30pm, arrived home at 10:30pm, while hubby takes son to Tree Climbers at church
Wednesday: Same as Monday except add a Youth group Bible study we host at our home from 7pm-8:45pm
Thursday: Same as Monday except add in a trip to Bowie to pick up my Tahoe from the dealership after three days for repairs, then drive up to Bel Air to drop of the car we borrowed from in-laws, arriving home at 10:30pm. (This was after canceling plans to have friends over for our monthly dinner.)

So, I got to thinking on the drive home…..are we too busy? Is it too much? If so, what do you cut? Well, unfortunately, there isn’t much we can cut right now. We have two kids and two full time jobs. Life is crazy hectic. Evenings without a planned activity are a rarity.

However, I am striving to not allow the activities and the busyness to define us. I am trying to teach my children that it is not sports or careers or even grades that define who we are. I want them to see that it is our hearts. That it is our love of God and devotion to him. That love and devotion is what can, in fact make our schedules so busy at times. We want to teach others about him, so we lead a Bible study. We want our son to know Christ better and grow up in the church, so we make sure he goes to Tree Climbers. We want our daughter to have the chance to grow and mature in her faith, so we send her to Youth camp. We teach Sunday school and we try our best not to miss worship. These are all good things. But……may the focus be on HIM and not on us. May we strive to ever lean on HIS wisdom and not our own. May we not be so busy that we do not take time for prayer and the Word.

This is my prayer tonight, as I feel overwhelmed by our schedule and exhausted. I pray that I can remember what is important. That I can know when to say when. That in everything I do, I will Glorify God and teach my children to trust in Him alone. I pray for the ability to survive the hectic-ness and not become grouchy or annoyed.

My children know this verse well (much to their dismay):
May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. Psalm 19:14