Little by Little

Now that I am enjoying the freedom that being done with paper chasing brings, I am looking for all sorts of new ways to fill my time. As I started making a mental list of all the things I could set my mind to accomplishing, my mind started to get crowded and overwhelmed, wondering when in the world I was going to get any of it done.

My school room, for example, is a total wreck. Not that this is a surprise to anyone who has seen it before, or that this state of affairs is any different than it has been ever in my short little homeschooling life. But it has been blissfully ignored and walked over for, just, ages. I was beginning to feel some conviction, some gentle, loving conviction, that perhaps the time may have come to begin, just begin, dealing with a few of those piles.

As I contemplated all my new free time, I realized as well that somehow, over the last month, we have really ignored our budget/receipts. We are just in love with Quicken and how it keeps track of all that stuff for us with such ease. But it is only a beautiful, helpful tool if you enter in the receipts, not if you leave your receipts in the biggest, most unmanageable pile of receipts you've ever seen on anyone's desk in your whole life. Of course, I could just wait until the bank downloads it into Quicken for us, but then it wouldn't know how to categorize it for us. Was $20 spent on groceries at WalMart, for example, or $20 spent on miscellaneous items? And if you really don't care if it was groceries or miscellaneous (my personal favorite category), then you really don't need to bother with Quicken.

Anyhoo, can you sense the dilemma? Where to start? What to do? As I discussed these things with my husband, my wonderful, precious husband, we came up with a never-before-tried plan where he would take the entire gang to his parents' house, and give me time to work, alone!

Joel has given me lots of time to myself over the years, without the blessings, just to kinda, you know, recharge. He has reserved hotel rooms, just for me, while he stayed home with the kids and sent me on my way with magazines and chocolate, which is very important. I so recommend this to anyone reading.

But this time, I was going to be alone, in my very own house. This is a new twist. I started to think about all the things I could secretly put in our give away box while the kids were gone. I started to think about all that could be accomplished in that school room. On that desk.

I packed the kids up real quick.

I have a few hours left of quiet and they will return today in time for lunch. Then violin. Then school. And within moments, we will be back to the loudness and craziness that is so normal around here.

As I think about it, I realize that the trick will be to find ways to get these big tasks done even when my blessings are here, underfoot and needing me every few minutes. I remember the Lord giving me a sweet "trick" when I was first married and learning how to do all the things that wives do, and not doing it so well. One morning in desperation, as I read my Bible, I read:

Exodus 23:30 Little by little I will drive them out before you, until you have increased enough to take possession of the land.

and later again in Deuteronomy 7:22

	The Lord your God will drive out those nations before you, little by little. You will not be allowed to eliminate them all at once, or the wild animals will multiply around you.

This sweet word has saved my tail over and over again. This is what God taught me. No matter how overwhelming: little by little. Step by step. To not be slack in my work or overindulgent in my computer time.

And while eliminating my work load all at once sounds really good to me, it is not reality, it is not the nature of my work load (my current work load tends to really repeat itself, like several times a day), and in this case, and the cases of those quoted above, it is not what God deems best. He says "we're gonna do this little by little."

So, the plan when my blessings return is to do a little each day. And then I will do a little bit tomorrow.

But for now, I am enjoying the quiet, the insane productivity you can achieve when all alone.

And I am lovin' it.