“When our children were very young, I spent too many hours fretting that I didn’t have balance in my life. My time—which no longer felt like my time—was no where near evenly distributed among categories like exercise, time with friends, time for myself, Bible study, time with my husband, and rest. Several of those categories were hit or miss weekly.
After yet another day of stressing over this, I put pursuit of balance on the shelf and decided to pursue a daily rhythm.
Rhythm is pattern and flow. It’s not the same thing as a schedule, but schedule fits into our rhythm. The beauty of rhythm is that it can be as unique as we individually are. We can identify a rhythm design that works for us and works for our home that settles peace in our heart—even when the day is crazy busy or discouragingly hard.
Our rhythm can have variety or change temporarily. For instance, our rhythm on the weekend is likely different from the rhythm of a school day, or the rhythm of our day off is different from the days we work. Circumstances can affect rhythm. When we move to a new city, our rhythm is altered until we are settled. A job change, a new extracurricular activity for a child, or a new special needs circumstance for a child or aging parent makes modifications necessary.
A healthy rhythm reflects attention to our sense of personal order, how we plan, how we communicate, flexibility, and enjoying our life.
Our day is unpredictable to us, never to God. No matter what comes, his peace can anchor us. How we live the day affects our antennae for God’s peace. Cultivating rhythm—pattern and flow—helps.”
This is an excerpt from my book, Becoming A Peaceful Mom.
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