Living without a list

At my last Bible Study meeting, I came away with a resolve to "live without a list" for a day. What's funny is at my Bible Study we weren't talking about list making or anything of that nature. We were discussing our relationships with our husbands and children. Funny how God works like that.

For me, making a list and checking things off can be a big deal. I have lots of lists: grocery lists, menu list, work list, projects lists...you get the idea. I am a Type A personality. I have been known to put my list ahead of my family in an effort "to get things done". As a partial stay at home mom, getting things like the laundry done and meals made are important for our family to run smoothly, but other things, even good intentional things, can climb up the list.  So, that night on my ride home, I resolved not to make a list for the following day, but to take that list planning time and intentionally invest it in my family.

Source

So, when the kids woke up, we decided to take a trip to JoAnn's for fabric for Derek's Halloween costume. He wants to be a pirate so we knew we needed fabric. He wore his pirate shirt so I didn't have to make a list of what was needed. (Don't worry, I will post details once his costume is finished.) Instead of getting in and out, we walked down the aisles and touched the various fabrics and talked about how they felt. The fleece aisle was Brooke's favorite and she fell in love with some fleece that I plan to make into a blanket. We napped in the afternoon and made a nice dinner along with a special dessert. We were going to go outside, but a surprise storm prevented that. Instead, it provided us with some nice family time since Chris was planning to work in the yard that night.

I think the biggest lesson that I took away was to be intentional when I am with Chris or the kids. Lists are not bad. They provide focus and direction. They help me remember what I need at the grocery store. But when I get more satisfaction out of checking things off my list rather than my time in the Word and my family then I have my priorities wrong.