Where Does the Time Go?

love your children day 1

Show me, LORD, my life’s end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting my life is. Psalm 39:4 

“Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin.” Mother Teresa

 

  • This week, we are learning about loving our children. Pray and ask the Lord to speak to your heart about what it means for you to love those precious ones He has entrusted into your care, and also to show you how much He dearly loves you! When we feel loved it’s so much easier to give love. What a gift it is to truly  “have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge -that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” Ephesians 3:18-19. 

  • Call your prayer partner for your 10-minute prayer call. Keep trying to connect until you get to pray together. This little habit of praying with a friend regularly will truly change your life!
  • It’s time to meet with your Heavenly Father, the one who loves you as His child and accepts you for who you are. Remember, you are holy and dearly loved! (Colossians 3:12)
  • Read Psalm 90:12 and Psalm 39:4. Write both of these fantastic verses in your journal.

Where Does the Time Go?

Time. We never seem to have enough of it. I remember when my children were little, people would frequently say to me, “Enjoy this time–they will grow up before you know it!” I am sad to say that their prophecy came true; the time flew by, and now in the blink of an eye, my children have grown up.

I thank the Lord for encouraging my husband and me to pray together through those years. Each day we prayed, we would always pray Psalm 90:12 “Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom” and  Psalm 39:4 “Show me, LORD, my life’s end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting my life is.”

I truly believe praying these verses has made an incredible impact on our family life and has allowed us to treasure the time that we have with our children and with each other.

Sometimes, we get so overwhelmed with the daily drudgery of being a mom and miss the beautiful moments that make up the happy places of our memories,  as well as our children’s memories.

God gives each of us 24 hours a day to love well those He has providentially placed in our lives. The ability to savor the days of our lives is a gift given graciously to us by our heavenly Father, and a patient and determined petition. When God teaches us “to number our days so we may gain a heart of wisdom,” we notice the little things more often, savor the kisses and appreciate the ones the Lord has so graciously given us.

I have often pondered living my life backward, with an eye towards how I want to feel about the precious time I spent on this earth. How will I feel when I am old and think back to the way I loved? Did I love well? Did I savor the moments? Was I a good ambassador to the people God gave me to love?

Pondering these thoughts is very productive and helps us to stay focused on the calling that the Lord has given to each of us, and helps us to savor the days, give grace, and laugh more. It helps to change our perspective on our daily chores; knowing we are showing love to God by loving our families well and being a good steward of the days that have been given to us.

How about you, dear sister? Are you burdened by the endless amount of work and stress in your home? Come to Jesus; He will give you rest and help your weary soul. He alone can help you to savor each of the precious days you have with your family and to love them well.

Come to Him today.

Questions to Ponder

  • In your prayer time today, ask the Lord speak to you about numbering your days, appreciating your family and loving them well. What are some ways you can savor the days you have been given with your family?
  1. One example could be lowering your expectations of how much you accomplish each day and how clean your home has to be. There are seasons in our lives where our homes are clean, and seasons where they are messy. The time when you have Little’s in your home is not the time to have “House Beautiful.”
  2. Give yourself grace as much as possible. Try to get into a rhythm of laundry, meals, cleaning and playtime, but don’t give in to the feeling of defeat during messier times. Remember, be like “Dori” from Finding Nemo and “Just keep Swimming!” Just keep trying. Don’t give up! Ask the Lord to help you to have a house as clean as you, your husband, and the Lord think it should be. Don’t compare yourself to anyone else! You do you! 🙂
  • Are you too busy to enjoy your life and your children? Do you and your family have too many commitments? Are you in your car too much, shuffling your children from one activity to the next? I have found in my family that it was so much simpler if each child was only involved in one outside activity. But remember, you do you! Pray and ask the Lord to show you if there is anything you should change. Write what He says in your journal.

Faith-Filled Idea

This Faith-Filled idea is my favorite! Begin to pray this week for the Lord to give you a hymn for each of your children. Print it out and put the hymn on your children’s bedroom wall. Be sure to tell them the story of “their hymn.” sing it to/with them often, and tell them why you think God gave this hymn to them.  What a gift that will last your children a lifetime! You never know, it could be a huge source of encouragement to your children when they have difficult places to walk through. You can find the detailed instructions for picking a hymn for your child here

Choose at least two Mom Tips from the list for this week. Don’t let this overwhelm you. If you can only do one, that’s great!

You do you! 🙂

Here is a printable for the Mom Tips. Keep them on your fridge and work through them this week.

 

Love your children day1

 

[box type=”download”]

Join the Community! 

Give hope, prayer, and encouragement. Post a comment below & talk about it.

 

[/box]

 

Deb Weakly

13 Comments on “Where Does the Time Go?”

  1. I just love this study and it has extra special meaning to me because this concept, of how short our time is here on earth, is one that I never really understood, from the christian perspective, until a few years ago. It was my husband who actually enlightened me and it wasn’t even an A-ha moment for me either…one that took time for me to appreciate and understand. Ultimately, I was just maturing in my walk with Christ and then I was finally able to see the big picture, how this world is not what it’s all about, but what’s to come! (I mean I knew that Heaven is the ultimate goal, but I sure didn’t want dwell on how short life is or to think things of this world didn’t really ‘matter’ per se).

    So, my husband actually shared with me his favorite verse from Psalm 39: “Show me, Lord, my life’s end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting my life is.” I remember hearing him read this to me for the first time and I immediately thought, geez…what a depressing verse…doesn’t he want to have more time here on earth with me…!

    I totally missed the whole point of what God was saying here and this is why I love you featuring this concept to us! We do get caught up in this world and just getting things done, checking off boxes, hoping our selfish desires are answered now, etc…that we forget what truly matters and how magnificent the end game is. It doesn’t mean we all just want to die and be with God, but he wants to help us treasure our time here and make the most of it and have us fulfill what he has called us to do! This is something that I still have to remind myself of often, but now I at least see the wisdom he is offering us =) Thank you Deb!!

    1. You and your husband are so wise Kristall! It’s so wonderful to have an awareness of how short our time is on this earth! What a blessing it is to have God show you His heart for us to number our days! You are a great Mama! 🙂

  2. Praying this morning about this topic the Lord really spoke to me and I believe he asked me to share. I am usually really hard on myself about expectations around the house. Partly because that is my personality, partly because I’ve always been able to do these things with 1, 2, 3,and even mostly with 4 children but with 5 it’s just hard, and nearly impossible. Right now I really feeling the Lord breaking down walls and GRACE is the word of the season he is giving me. Not just grace for my kids but really, truly grace for myself. It’s hard for me. Some of my expectations are internal (from me) and external (from others) but right now I am in a season I am truly being guided by God about what and how much I should be doing, in and outside of my home. Honestly, I have never felt happier, less guilty, and more fulfilled than I have ever been in my whole life. I don’t feel the desperate need to have “me” time as I have needed in the past because I am not doing all these draining things that God didn’t call me to. While journaling about teaching us to number our days and gaining the heart of wisdom God revealed something amazing to me. It’s so painfully obvious I don’t know why I hadn’t really thought of it before, so if you have this wisdom already , please have grace with me to realize something so simple. If I am externally showing my frustration about not having a clean house or getting “chores” done then that is how my children are going to react when they are older when they don’t meet their own expectations, or those of others. If, I intentionally show grace to myself and show them I am having grace because of the season we are in or because unexpected things happen some days that nobody can help, then that teaches them to not only to have grace for themselves, the unexpected, but others as well. If I react frustrated and overwhelmed then that is how they will learn to react, but if I am showing grace, then they will learn to do that as well. This is a learned trait for most people, although I believe it comes easier for some than others, but I believe we are all capable and how amazing would it be for our children to know this amazing gift before the struggles and hardships that come as adults but grow up learning it and having it in their hearts when they reach adulthood rather than having to learn it the hard way, like me, when we are already set in our ways. Sorry for the novel y’all, just hope it encourages another mama like it did me this morning.

    1. Brandi, I’ve been Working on this recently and was journaling about the same thing this weekend! God showed me that my negative attitude about cleaning is contagious, so now we’re all working on it. I’ve stopped paying my kids allowances for chores, and now they only get rewarded for doing their tasks (chores, errands, school) without grumbling or complaining. It really helps! My middle child (the pleaser/ peacemaker) immediately changed her tune, and it is starting to rub off on the others.

    2. This is absolutely wonderful Brandi!! Really!!
      I completely agree, and I see this concept now showing true in the life of Christie, my married daughter. She is a wonderful homemaker, but doesn’t stress out about it. She truly enjoys being in her home, decorating and keeping a neat, and thankfully NOT a house beautiful, perfectly immaculate home. It feels very freeing to be in her home and you can truly make yourself at home there and feel at peace. I have never felt like people have to be concerned with messing anything up, her home is inviting and welcoming, neat but not stressful. When our children were in our home, we all knew that the house had to be cleaned, but we didn’t stress if it looked “lived-in.” We did what we needed to do, but also loved and enjoyed our home.
      Great insight Brandi, and I am so happy you are learning this when you are a young mama. 🙂

  3. For the Day 1 study I love the idea under #4 with the suggestions for prayer time today, “savoring”. It was a very freeing way of giving us something to consider in a hope filled way, thank you! and lowering expectations which is hard for me to do was a wonderful wording. I also read Ecclesiastes 3:1-15 here as it came to mind to remind me that in changing expectations, remembering that there is a time for everything, but everything is not to be done all of the time. It has it’s place, but then move on, even if it is not “complete” by the world’s standards.

  4. Deb this is so beautiful! I parent in a different way because of your constant encouragement. I do pray Psalm 90:12 all the time because you taught it to me at support group years ago! I love your consistent message of faith and perseverance as a mommy. I have to say I love the Beatrix Potter! You have taught me to dream big and pray big for my kids. Another verse I have been pondering this week is I am the Lord of all mankind is there anything too hard for me? Jeremiah 32:27
    Love you Deb!!!

  5. I love the way you started this week. It’s so easy to forget to fill ourselves with God’s love, making it impossible to fill our children’s spirits.

    1. Thanks so much Heather! I agree. I think we should think about keeping the tips the same. I love your faithful feedback! You are so consistent and helpful!

  6. Hi Deb! How beautiful for you to remind us to number our days as God’s Word says. I find it easy to forget, and needed a reminder to “savor” the moments. Ahhh…I want to make the most of my relationships with my children. I agree with you that time passes by way too quickly! I have never thought about living my life backwards…what a deep idea to process and ponder on!

    1. That’s a great point Mari Jo and Heather. I like to see them ahead of time too. Lets pray about it and see what would work well. We will figure this out together!
      Thanks for always being so encouraging Mari Jo! 🙂

Leave a Reply to Heather Doolittle Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Time limit is exhausted. Please reload the CAPTCHA.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.