Homemaking God's Way: Your Time

By: Jenifer Metzger

Growing up, our girls ministry at church had a motto: Be faithful stewards of your time, money, and talents. We often hear of people talking about being faithful in their money by giving in tithes and offering. We even hear people talking about being faithful in their talents by using them for the glory of God. But what about our time? How can we be faithful in our time? And how does that go with homemaking?

Staying at home, it would be so easy to flip on the TV, sit on the couch, and spend the majority of my day there. It would even be so easy to play on the laptop or iPad or read a book all day, and I can always cruise through social media. But those are not good uses of my time. In fact, too often, they are time wasters.

There have been days where I have been working on the laptop (not doing school with the kids, but ministry work with occasionally scrolling social media) and before I know it, hours have passed by. I look up and very little, if anything, was accomplished in my home. As homemakers, we need to be careful with our time.

Here are 6 tips to making good use of your time as a homemaker:

• Pray. Ask God to help you honor Him with your time.

• Wake up before the kids. I know it's not always easy. Especially after a long night of waking with the baby or a sick little one. But I promise you, it is so worth it! You are able to get uninterrupted time with God, shower and get ready, and you might even have time to start some laundry or load the dishwasher. When my kids were little, on the days I woke up before them, I felt 100 times more productive than when I would wake up with the kids. I like to say wake up for the kids, not to the kids.

• Keep the tv off. If there is a show you want to watch, record it and go back and watch it when all of your work is done or maybe while the kids nap. The TV is a huge distraction. If you have it on just for background noise, try Christian music, a podcast, or even an audio book instead. You can even use an app to listen to the Bible!

• Limit yourself when it comes to your phone, iPad, or computer. If you are not using it for work or ministry purposes, then set limits. You can set a timer for 15 minutes or so, when it goes off, put the device down. Social media is not going to crash because you haven't checked it for 10 minutes, I promise you.

• Use a planner and have a routine. Use a planner to help you remember all of the things you need to do for the day, week, and month. Make sure your husband and older children know what is going on so that everyone is informed. Have a regular daily routine and post it somewhere in your home so that everyone can see.

• Recognize your time wasters. What uses up most of your time that is not related to the family or home? Think of how you spend your day, every last minute and every last detail. Is there something you are spending too much time on that you should scale back?

When we are good stewards of our time, not only do we honor God and our family, but we accomplish more in the daytime hours allowing for us to spend more quality time as a family in the evening hours. I don't know about you, but I would much rather work hard during the day and have the evening open for laughter and relaxation with the family, than goof off on social media or watching tv during the day, and have to work in the evening.

Remember, being a good steward of your time is an important part of homemaking.

This week's action plan:
Go through the above bullet points and decide what you need to work on. Be intentional about your time. Shut the TV off, make a routine, do whatever you can to be a good steward of your time.

Discussion:
1. What is your biggest struggle with time management as it pertains to your home?
2. Do you know what your time wasters are?

Homemaking God's Way series:
Week One: Your Heart
Week Two: Your Husband
Week Three: Your Kids