Priorities

I have priorities.
These are the things that I try to work on EVERY SINGLE DAY.
Key word here is 'try.'
I don't often succeed.
I very often fail.
But you can bet your britches, that tomorrow morning these same priorities move right back to the top of my list to try again.

My priorities are different than other peoples', as I'm sure everyone's are. However, sometimes I find myself with few conversations to jump into. Few other people who can get deeply enthralled in topics the same as mine.

My priorities are my passions. But they do not mean that I like nothing else. Because I put one thing first and let another "happen when it happens," absolutely does not mean that I do not love the latter. Sometimes I would even RATHER move the latter choice up on the priority list. The reason I don't, the reason some things just have to wait or happen when they do is because there are a number of other things in my life that take precedence.

I wish that people didn't see that as me not enjoying certain other things or wanting to do other things. I do enjoy all these other things. But in the grand scheme of my life, they must take a backseat to my priorities. There will be days when I've managed to be super mom and focus on things that need my best attention and incredibly I will still have time to do these other things I love. But work comes before play. So that's the way it goes.

Here's a short list of my priorities, my passions (but not all of them), the things that keep me busy every single day. Here's what I've been focusing on instead of extravagant party planning, serious interior design and wardrobe remixing. Here's why it takes me a month to makeover a wooden desk, why it takes me days upon days to upload photos, why I have turned a thirty day photo challenge into thirty photo challenges that happen when they happen. It's one of the reasons I still hang on to outdated technology for my phone, one of the reasons I walk and ride a bike instead of doing local fitness classes. I don't love these things so much less than other people, I don't dread doing them...I look forward to them all. So much so that if I don't set limits on myself and put them on the back-burners of my life, or even cut them out completely, they will consume me.

My priorities

:: Fall deeper in love with God than I thought possible the day before.

:: Become the parent that God created me to be...a parent that will raise His children His way, giving them the best chance for personal success and eternal joy.

:: Be the wife and example to my husband that I have to be. Show him Christ through me so that He may someday have his own relationship with God.

:: Learning how to be and actually being as physically healthy as I can be and teaching my family how they can be the same.

:: Building and growing real relationships with the people God has placed on my path.

:: Creating memories for my family that they can carry with them forever.  

:: Reaching out to others and being a light for Him.


These goals may sound broad, vague and obvious. Who doesn't want to be the best mom, eat right and love God? True. It's just become more to me than that in the last year. It's not just a part of my life, it is consuming it. Instead of just using these goals to describe myself, I am on a journey to let them define my very existence. My entire life is built around these goals and priorities. And not one of them is something I can ever completely accomplish. They are things that I will work on the rest of my life, things that will always need improvement, things I can always learn more about.
So that's what I spend my days doing.
Praying
Reading
Trying
Talking with people who have similar priorities right now
Praying more
Educating myself
Teaching my children what I learn

If it's not on the list above, it has to play second fiddle.
It's too easy for me to become distracted by other things.
By hobbies, interests, "passions," trends.


None of those things are wrong in themselves, but for me when they take my eyes off my Maker and the list of convictions He has put on my heart, they must fall to the bottom of the list.
My convictions used to be something I'd have on my prayer list, something I'd think about in church on Sundays, something I'd work on during devotions...that sort of thing. They were on my mind when I wasn't busy doing something else. Over the last year I've flipped it so that I try to focus on my convictions every moment I can, and everything else just happens when it happens.

Everyone has a different list of convictions and priorities, things that they must focus on right now. Mine is different than yours, the things that fall to the bottom of the list are different from yours. That's alright, that's the beauty of this whole thing. God has called us all to do and be different parts in His plan. An orchestra is not made up entirely of violins. ;)

What has God called you to keep at the top of your list? What does He call you to drop to the bottom, or off the list at all?