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The sound of the clock radio bursting into life at 5.45 this morning didn't catch me by surprise. I'd been drifting in and out of sleep since Steve's alarm had signaled the start of his day an hour earlier. For me it didn't just signal the start of a new day, it was the fanfare for a brand new school year.

After seven wonderful weeks of summer vacation, Kylie and Matthew were going back to school, and I have to admit that my feelings were mixed.

Both the children have been excellent over the break, other than a couple of explosive encounters brought on by spending too much time together. So I was definitely going to miss their company. On the other hand there's the cost of having two teenagers at home for that length of time. If nothing else, I'm quite sure that the weekly food bill will be cut dramatically from now on.

Then of course there's the fact that my "baby" is starting high school. With Kylie I'd felt no concerns at all about this big step, but for Matt there was the tiniest twinge that he may feel a little overwhelmed by the work.

With a sigh, I pushed myself out of bed and headed down the hall to the shower. Whether I was happy or sad about this first day of School really didn't matter. The ball was now in motion and the game had begun.

Standing under the reviving spray of the shower I admitted that the main thing I'd miss was being able to sleep a little later each day. Early mornings have never really held a great deal of appeal for me. Yet, even as I recognized that those precious extra hours of sleep were now well and truly a thing of the past, I was actually quite thankful as well. It was time to get my life back into some sort of order again - preferably, better than before.

Over the last week, while juggling family, office work for our Company and trying to write and minister as much as I wanted to, my lack of organization became glaringly obvious. Flitting from one task to another seemed to have become common practice during the holiday break. Add to that a sudden bout of procrastination, and it was no wonder there were several nights where the midnight oil burned into the morning hours as I tried to finish one more thing before bed.

Although this wasn't ideal, the school vacation allowed me to get away with it. But, yesterday I knew that a re-evaluation of how I spent each day was desperately needed, and basically I had to stop wasting so much time.

In the years since I first became a Christian, God has shown me the direction and plans He has for my life. The process of reaching the fullness of that destiny requires taking one little step after another. The same is true for each of us. But He can only take us as far and as fast as we're willing to let Him. Although my desire is to step into everything He has for my life, my actions have been showing that I'm not yet prepared for the journey.

A passage from Jeremiah seemed to leap out at me as I was researching this article:

"If you have raced with men on foot and they have worn you out, how can you compete with horses? If you stumble in safe country, how will you manage in the thickets by the Jordan?"
(Jeremiah 12:5 NIV)

How clearly this spoke to me!

Although I may long to move onto the next level of service to God, there's no way He can use me if I'm not coping with what's already been placed in my hand. If my energy is flagging because of my inability to organize my time and vital responsibilities are being overlooked, then it's time to seriously re-think my schedule. If there's a better way to do things, then I need to find out what it is.

As I started to look at the responsibilities in my life, I realized that the most important change had to take place in my mind. The first inkling came in November last year when one too many business calls came as we were sitting down to eat our evening meal. Coming hard on the heels of a 9.45 pm telephone call from a client the Sunday before, we decided that enough was enough.

Steve and I had fallen into the same trap that many people running a business from home find themselves caught in. We'd failed to set boundaries that differentiated between work time and family time. After 12 years we took our first step toward re-claiming some privacy by installing a second telephone line and using it purely for Company business. Outside office hours, the answering machine was activated and the relief was almost immediate.

Now, just two months later, the same change of thinking is needed for my attitude toward my workload. Up until now I've had no problem thinking of myself as a stay-at-home Mom. In fact, I've always considered it an honor and a privilege to be able to do that. Yet now, for the sake of organization, I need to re-think what my role is.

First and foremost, it's to the needs of my family. We can win the world to Christ or have the greatest business on the planet, yet if we lose our relationship with our family then we've missed God's best for our lives. So whatever I do, the needs of my husband and children have to be taken into consideration and met. As their wife and mother, that is my greatest ministry.

The second thing was to look at the work I do for our Company. Instead of thinking of myself as a stay-at-home mother who does some office work for her husband, I had to completely change that to one of a Mother who works from home. Believe it or not, there is quite a difference gained from that change of perspective. Still blessed with the honor and privilege of being at home for my family, but with the added aspect of also being in full time employment.

So now, instead of flitting in and out to do the Office work whenever and wherever I feel like it, I've decided to maintain regular Office hours. Thankfully there is a lot of flexibility, yet the goal is to follow a set routine and time for all the daily office work. Of course, there'll be times when Steve needs a quote or invoice typed at night, but for the most part my work for the business will be within a set time frame.

Next comes ministry, which at the moment is largely through writing and teaching. This is the area I long to see expand even more, and God is being faithful to do that. Yet the warning is there that if I want to race with the horses, I have to make sure I'm not passing out from trying to just run alongside my fellow man.

Again, it's one step after another, making sure that nothing is neglected on the home front so that I can be freed to serve God in this other area. Just as my thinking needed to change regarding the work I do for our Company, so too it needed to change with regard to some aspects of ministry. In particular, the writing I do.

When we're serving God in a way that we're designed to do there is great joy and delight. Because of that, we can allow this ministry to take over every other area, causing a lack of balance in our lives. Again, I know that there's a lot of room for flexibility in this, but mentally I've had to include my writing time within those "office hours".

Just as any woman who works outside the home knows, organization is vital if we want to keep our home life running smoothly. For me, there's at least three hours each morning to do housework, and a few later in the day as well. Then comes family and fun time, which to be honest, has probably been slightly neglected in recent months.

Although this is only my first day with this new mind-set toward my daily schedule, I'm feeling excited about it. I know that only time will tell whether I can stay disciplined enough to maintain the routine, but I believe the benefits will keep me going and growing.

If we want to run with the horses, then we need to keep our eyes on the prize, which will be our's when we hear God say, "Well done, good and faithful servant!"

"She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness"
(Proverbs 31:27 NIV)

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