Thankful Thursday: Routines, New and Old

After the busyness of last week, it’s been wonderful to ease back into some normal routines – except that I’m not just going back to normal. I’ve begun to feel that I spend a lot of my day purposelessly on the computer – and then feel rushed in caring for Tirzah Mae and for our home. Yet as a younger woman, I have certain responsibilities, certain things to which God has called me: “to love [my husband and child], to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to [my] own husband, that the word of God may not be reviled.” (Titus 2:4-5 ESV) When I let computer time eat away at my time, I am not exercising self-control. Depending on what I’m reading (some of the “gossipy” stuff can be a real temptation), it can lead me to not be pure in mind. It keeps me from working at home. It inhibits my ability to love my husband and my daughter well.

So I’ve been working to intentionally prioritize the things I ought to be doing – instead of letting the computer distract me from my real job. And since routines are how I roll, I’ve set specific routines in place to help me do what I ought to – and to provide structured and productive computer time.

This week I’m thankful…

…for getting up earlier
Daniel had been in the habit of bringing me breakfast in bed around 7 – which has been wonderful. But Tirzah Mae is often awake at that time and we had been breastfeeding in bed around that time, which means she wants to strew my eggs all over the bedsheets – which is not so wonderful. This, combined with a desire to be more productive in the mornings, has compelled me to start getting up in the mornings so we can sit at the table for breakfast. This week, I’ve been getting up at 6 or 6:30, helping Daniel pour the coffee or toast the bread, and then sitting down with him (and Tirzah Mae if she’s up) for breakfast. Then, rather than my previous habit of lingering over my coffee in front of the computer, I’ve been staying at the table with my Bible, spending time in personal devotions then in Sunday school preparation.

…for getting back into exercising
It’s hard to return to an exercise routine after I’ve been gone for a while (even just those five days off mean renewed muscle soreness and being more out-of-breath.) But it feels good to be moving again. And with the jump-start that getting up a little earlier (and getting moving earlier) provides, I’ve been able to get both the exercise and my hygiene routines in while Tirzah Mae takes her morning nap.

…for intentional playtime
Perhaps the biggest thing to suffer because of my aimless computer time has been time just playing with my daughter. Now, I believe (strongly) in the power of undirected play for children – but children also need their parents’ undivided attention every so often throughout the day. Not having the computer be my default (or trying to cram all my household chores into the wee bit of time left over once I’m done at the computer) means that I’m making time to walk with Tirzah Mae around the living room a couple times a day, that I’m getting on the floor and just letting her climb over me while we laugh together, that I’m reading to her more.

…for a clean kitchen
It used to be that I’d let the dishes slide until I was already in the kitchen preparing dinner. Then I’d go through the house and get all the dishes and wash them and dry them and put them away and wipe the counters – and just as soon as that was done, I’d set the table so we could make the next round of dishes (that would then sit on the table or the countertops) until I was in the midst of preparing dinner the next day. Now, I’m working to get the dishes done right after lunch, which means I can have clean countertops from lunch to dinner prep – and have dry dishes in the drainer to put away just before dinner so that I can clean the dinner dishes right after dinner – and have clean counters again until lunch. It’s great.

…for afternoon naps
Rachel at the Purposeful Wife shared about power naps this Tuesday – and I put it into practice starting that very day. The early morning Monday did leave me feeling pretty fatigued by the end of the day – and I didn’t want to burn out. Seeing that article, I purposed to make a power nap the first thing I did after I put Tirzah Mae down for her afternoon nap (even if I was in the middle of dishes!) And I have, Tuesday and yesterday. I didn’t actually sleep either time, but just the 20 minutes of rest gave me sufficient energy to finish the day out and to do so with a good attitude (that’s the REALLY important thing!)

…for enjoying non-computer forms of enrichment
I already mentioned playing with Tirzah Mae. What fun it is! But now that I’m back to exercising, I get some reading in (while marching for warm-up and cool-down). And now that my bathtime coincides with Tirzah Mae’s nap, I can get some more reading in during her nap. And when I’m doing dishes? I’m listening to podcasts, a couple new ones that I’m really enjoying. Then, when I do sit down at the computer, whether while Tirzah Mae is nursing or during my dedicated time in the afternoon, I can enjoy computer tasks and entertainment without guilt.

…for the hymns at the end of the day
It’s one of those old routines, but one I’ve not always been faithful with. When I put Tirzah Mae to sleep, I change her, I feed her, I read her a story from the Jesus Storybook Bible, and I sing the next hymn I know in the hymnal. (Now that she’s got teeth, toothbrushing goes at the end there!) And this week, I sang hymn #259: “Stricken, Smitten, and Afflicted”.

“Stricken, smitten, and afflicted,
See Him dying on the tree!
‘Tis the Christ by man rejected;
Yes, my soul, ’tis He, ’tis He!
‘Tis the long expected prophet,
David’s Son, yet David’s Lord;
Proofs I see sufficient of it:
‘Tis a true and faithful Word.

Tell me, ye who hear Him groaning,
Was there ever grief like His?
Friends through fear His cause disowning,
Foes insulting his distress:
Many hands were raised to wound Him,
None would interpose to save;
But the deepest stroke that pierced Him
Was the stroke that Justice gave.

Ye who think of sin but lightly,
Nor suppose the evil great,
Here may view its nature rightly,
Here its guilt may estimate.
Mark the Sacrifice appointed!
See Who bears the awful load!
‘Tis the Word, the Lord’s Anointed,
Son of Man, and Son of God.

Here we have a firm foundation,
Here the refuge of the lost.
Christ the Rock of our salvation,
Christ the Name of which we boast.
Lamb of God for sinners wounded!
Sacrifice to cancel guilt!
None shall ever be confounded
Who on Him their hope have built.”

What delight have I, to open and close each day gazing upon the Lamb – stricken, smitten, and afflicted for me!