The plans of the heart belong to man,
but the answer of the tongue is from the Lord.
All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes,
but the Lord weighs the spirit.
Commit your work to the Lord,
and your plans will be established.
The Lord has made everything for its purpose,
even the wicked for the day of trouble.
Everyone who is arrogant in heart is an abomination to the Lord;
be assured, he will not go unpunished.
By steadfast love and faithfulness iniquity is atoned for,
and by the fear of the Lord one turns away from evil.
When a man’s ways please the Lord,
he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.
Better is a little with righteousness
than great revenues with injustice.
The heart of man plans his way,
but the Lord establishes his steps.
~ Proverbs 16 (ESV)
Great Plans
First and foremost our plans WILL fail – at some point. We’ve all had those days, with or without prayer, full of plans to get a great amount of things accomplished – and somehow it all going wrong. This does not keep us from planning, with God’s thoughts in mind, setting our day up on His foundations. And honestly, when you start the day off badly isn’t it REALLY hard to recover?
Is it not easy to get caught up in what WE need to do, to accomplish? We can end up spending our day, because we feel overwhelmed, focusing on our chores, rather than training and raising children. Not only in the ways of the Lord, but in the day to day workings of life.
I am still flabbergasted when college students don’t know how to do simple tasks – vacuuming, dusting, folding a towel – which yes, even the boys need to know. We MUST involve our children and set them up to succeed in ALL areas of life.
I’ll Do it Myself
I am guilty of the, “It’s just faster to do it myself.” This has it’s time and place. But for the most part, with a little planning you can set yourself up to have the patience and time to teach. And hopefully have a great time with it! I love seeing the joy and pride when they’ve figured it out and done it right. “Aren’t I a good helper, Mama?”
I by no means have this all figured out. And sometimes I am the one responsible for starting off our day off headed for failure and tears – not having my patience hat on.
Readying Your Heart
It is on these are the days I am not conscious and intentional about my actions.
The days I do not have God first on my heart.
The days I am more concerned with how much sleep I didn’t get the night before, rather than having a good day with my precious children.
I pray that this is a reminder to some, a help to others going in the right direction and for all of us a re-focus on God’s mercies and his blessings – Our Sweet Ones.
What are your struggles with involving your children in the household? How have you learned to overcome?
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TESTING!
Most definitely a reminder for me. Your so right about how a day goes when I have not had my time with God in the morning, rushed and moving too fast, I am not as present as I should be. I want to be more intentional with my little daughter, I am sure all moms want that with thier children. To do that though we have to be more intentional with Him.
Thanks for that guidance this Saturday morning
Michelle
You are welcome! This has to be a daily reminder for me – so easy to let life overwhelm.
I swear you wrote this post just for me. It touched my heart in the exact right ways. Encouraging, gentle, but so powerful. Not demeaning or guilt tripping, just exactly what was needed. Thank you for letting God use you to get a very much needed message across to me. (I’m going through difficult medical issues and it’s been really hard to give my kids all that I know I should, especially in the patience department.)
So glad it could speak to you. These are things I ALWAYS need to be reminded of – just need to keep it fresh on my heart!