Timeout!

These are the times... wake up time, time to feed the baby, diaper changing time, breakfast, lunch, and dinner times, time for work and school, play time, time for homework, workout time, camp time, pool and beach time, nap time, bath time, bed time, and don't forget time for groceries, shopping, meetings, recreational sporting games (whatever the season may be), yard work, laundry, house cleaning, Sunday school and church time, family time, and you finagle your schedule for weeks to work in some good old fashioned girl/guy time (whichever you desperately need at the time, time)...

These are the best days of my life!  So then, why is it that my days are filled with all the "times" in the world, and I still feel like I have no time at all?  I am an exhausted and often overwhelmed crazy woman on the run.  How are you? 

This blog is a perfect example of what I am talking about.  I love blogging.  It grounds me.  It helps me celebrate the extraordinary in my ordinary life.  Each day I put it on my "to-do" list, and each night I am frustrated because I didn't even have time to check my email, much less work on my blog.  And so, I put it on my list for tomorrow.  If I keep going like this, my tomorrows just keep flying by so fast that even a Boeing 747 can't help me keep up.

TIME FOR A TIMEOUT!

Timeout is hard work!

After making the decision to stick his tongue out at his momma and contort his face in a very unattractive frozen state, this little boy earned himself some time in the chair.  What was not at all funny at the time makes me smile now as I look at the picture.  I know how he feels.  Sometimes when life gets crazy, I can't think straight or make the best of decisions.  The result is days gone by wondering what it is I'm doing and why I haven't done what I meant to do.  Timeout, if only for four minutes, like my son's, is just what I need.  It is a deliberate chance to stop, think, regroup, apologize for mistakes made, and move forward making better "choices," as we say in our house. 

That is my struggle right now.  I admit it.  I have been fighting a losing battle, sticking my tongue out at my forever ticking clock, not looking all that graceful in the process.  What I need is some good, consistent discipline for my out- of -line self.  No more getting swept away at the speed of light.  Timeout for me.  Granted, I may have to take my computer and go lock myself in a closet to get four minutes of quiet to myself, but I will take what I can get.

I know this is the time of my life!  I mean this literally and figuratively.  I wish I could bottle up my time now, the sounds of my family laughing together, the sights of my kids playing without a self-conscious care in the world, the smells of our wide open hugs, the pure sweetness of our kisses, and the soft touches of our snuggles.  I would save all of it for days when my children, my babies, are grown and on their own, and my husband and I are old and gray aching for a dose of the "good ole' days."   

The time is now.  As much as I'd love to stop time or bottle it up for a rainy day, I can't.  So, I just have to make sure I am living in the here and now each second of each day.  My "to-do" list is getting me in trouble.  I have it all wrong.  My numbers one, two, and three everyday are, most often, not things that I will remember when I am aching for days gone by (i.e. doing laundry, calling the repair man to fix our very loud washing machine, cleaning the bathrooms).  Yes, I HAVE to do these things, but they are things that will get done eventually because of their physical and natural necessity (i.e. before we run out of clean clothes, the washing machine takes off or blows up, there's not a pee-free spot for me to sit on the toilet).  In other words, these things do not need to be on the top of my list because they will force their way into my agenda without much help. 

My "to-do" list needs to be turned upside down.  It's the things I NEED to do that should be at the top of my list.  Ah-ha moment coming...what do I really NEED to do each day?  I, personally, need to start EVERY day with spiritual guidance, some quiet, alone time with God to help me go in the right direction.  That's my number one.  Number two on my list, give my husband some undivided attention and affection.  Number three, play with my children, and be a part of their carefree laughter.  These things are precious to me, and they are extremely vulnerable to being pushed to the bottom of my list on the busiest of days because I do not HAVE to do them even though the consequences will run deep (i.e. God will not fuss at me for skipping my morning devotional, my husband will not end my marriage just because I forget to sit down with him, and my children will play happily even if I am doing other things).  The problem is that I NEED these things to have a happy and full life.

Yes, this timeout is just what I needed.  Putting the things I really NEED at the top of my "to-do" list turns  my ordinary, hectic day into an extraordinary day full of time well spent.  Is your "to-do" list getting you in trouble?  If your answer is yes, GO TO TIMEOUT!