Enough Time

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I don’t have it. 
Do you?? 
I bet not.  Few if any of us do. 
Time to do all our daily tasks and then what feeds our souls and minds as well?  Forget about it.  It is a constant battle for me, both externally and internally.  With three kids I’m split multiple times a day between this child and that child, this task and that child, this task and that task.  I think I must look like a crazed mother hen running all over the house yet getting very little done.  But, the crying child must be comforted.  Those dishes, they aren’t going to wash themselves.  That Mount Doom of laundry??  It will not get miraculously clean and back in dressers without me. 
I’m sure it’s even more difficult for those who work outside the home too. 
Then there is the internal struggle.  When, at the end of the day, I have a few minutes of peace to myself…what should I do??  Oh yes, I really should read that book I started a while back for my book club.  But I’m feeling a bit frazzled and I just need something light and oh look, one of my favorite bloggers has just put up a new post!!  Down the rabbit hole of blogs I go.  (It is a fun rabbit hole!) 
Or, maybe I’ve been thinking all day that I’d love to work on a project but by the time those free moments come I’ve lost my inspiration and creativity for the day.  There is a pile of (clean) laundry on my coffee table and I could fold it while watching some Netflix or perhaps even a movie with the husband if I’m lucky.  I can’t face tomorrow with those clothes on the table.  The toddler will certainly only pull them off and scatter them about the floor if I leave them.  (Don’t tell me mine is the only toddler with this obsession!)  I’ve been wondering what is going to happen to Miss Stewart in this episode of Foyle’s War anyway. 
Anddd…I really should spend some time in prayer or start reading that mother’s devotional book again.  But once again I’m hopping into bed and only  have a few moments to say a few quick prayers and a quick “sorry God for anything I haven’t done my best today” before falling asleep the second my head hits the pillow.  Because in a few short hours a toddler will awake waaaay too early and not want to go back to bed. 

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My internal struggles with time often crop up during the day too when I have just a few minutes here and there to do something that fuels that creative outlet.  (For me it is generally house beautifying creativity, but I’m sure you could fill the blank with your own version of creativity or relaxation—writing, reading, knitting, cleaning (I’ve heard there are some people out there who see cleaning as relaxing!!  Who knew!!), etc.  I get wrapped up in my ideas for this and that (or perhaps even a small project or part of a project) but am snapped back to reality by cries of hunger for a snack.  It gets discouraging time and time again to start something and have to put it away again and again especially if you need lots of tools or supplies for it. 
Why am I writing this?  Oh, I don’t know.  Perhaps you’ve had a day like this and you need to know that someone else has days like this all the time.  Not bad days…just days that there isn’t enough time to “do it all”.  My mind is bursting with ideas for this and that and wow, that pinterest recipe looks really really good…but that’s not happening today.  I’m a work in progress on being contented with the amount of time I have to get things done every day.  I love making our house a home and reading how others do so and seeing their projects and I like to share my little victories too.  Keeping up with other bloggers isn’t my job…being a wife and mother and making a home is. 
And sometimes I need to shout, shout, let it all out and realize I have enough time for what I need to do and not necessarily what I want  to do.  :)

 

(All the octopus clock pictures are dedicated to my husband, who wants a playful octopus clock more of like this except with waving tentacles in our bedroom:)

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