Living life with intent by prioritizing those things that matter most

“I thought we would have more time to study together,” I commented to Denielle this morning as we exercised by walking the hills of a nearby neighborhood.   “How are we busier now than before this new adventure?”

It is an interesting phenomenon that a worldschooling, blogging-podcasting-publishing-business husband could find very little room on his calendar for his wife.  The days seem to fly by faster than a locomotive, leaving our precious time in the dust.

“Well, you work a lot longer now on your writing and business than you did at the Chamber,” Denielle suggested.  “And I’m barely above water in homeschooling.”

She’s right, of course.  I would work  35 to 40 hours running a chamber of commerce, then — putting work aside — would come home and be home.  Now that I work from home, I have unknowingly — and perhaps unwittingly — doubled my work-time.  Tag on homeschool circle time and Field Trip Fridays — in addition to family scriptures and unscheduled wrestling matches with my boys — I’m simply swamped.  And loving every minute of it!

Standing at my make-shift “air desk” in the master bedroom of our current house-sit in Nebraska, I type away, hoping to update you on a few recent adventures.  All the while, little Lydia is sprawled out in front of my bedroom door kicking it with her feet and begging for my attention.  The thing is, it is 10:42 am and I really need to work.  We just had an hour of circle time, prior to that a half hour of breakfast and, prior to that, a walk around the hood while Kaelyn attended seminary.  Denielle and I have been up since 5:37 am; I think that is early enough.  Suddenly, I find myself surrounded by many good things I could be doing but struggling to focus my precious time on what I should be doing.  What activities matter most?  What am I to do?  I can hear my best friend saying right now, “Get an office!”

Right before circle time (today we sang a hymn, read from the scriptures, covered another chapter in Church History, and learned about the consequences of our choices in  Young Peacemaker), I took a moment to update my Google calendar with today’s to-do list:

• Write a blog post that will help and bless the reader
• Follow up with the Papillion mayor and Pastor Lance Burch (include blog links written about them)
• Message Magali (a dear friend I met while on my mission in France) — she wants to know if I plan to release a french version of Ask God – need to look into that
• Brief abs workout
• Play with kids at park
• Lunch
• Prepare a spreadsheet to keep track of Amazon book reviews from my read and review team (they are so awesome!) – need 30 by week’s end
• Organize a “$5 off Book Sale” event for Ask God using the Facebook event module (has anyone done that before?)
• Respond to Mike (Genius Media Book Marketing) with marketing content needed for October’s big promotion of the Kindle version of Ask God — I’m so excited, we are shooting for 10,000 downloads!
• Give some thought on how best to use a music video promo for Ask God, being prepared by my good friend Lisa (THANK YOU LISA!!!)
• Answer an aspiring author’s questions emailed to me in consideration of hiring book shepherd Ellen Reid
• Read another chapter from How I Sold 80,000 Books
• Think of my most burning questions I hope to have answered during this weekend’s General Conference

It’s now 11:04 am.  I am twenty-six minutes away from my scheduled exercise time and I have yet to write a blog post that will inspire and bless you.  And I want more time to study as a couple with Denielle.  What can I do?

Prioritize my calendar.  If I really want to do it, then I will do it.  Working location-independent is teaching me to prepare my daily to-do lists and prioritize them by what I feel matters most to God.  How do I do this?  I pray.  I ask God, “What can I do today to help build your Kingdom?  What can I do today to get your help in building mine (meaning my family)?  I make a list of activities that come to mind.  I get back on my knees, plead for my Heavenly Parent’s preference, then prioritize my list accordingly.

Following my dailys — individual, couple and family scripture study and prayer, homeschool circle time, meals, etc. — and as I was organizing my tasks, the Spirit whispered to put you, Dear Reader, at the top of today’s list.

So, here we are, 685 words later, and I have yet to offer anything of real substance, or talk about recent family adventures, or share an inspirational message tied to our comings and goings, or give insights into our current way of life.

Or have I?  Perhaps today’s post is about … purpose.  Not prioritization, you say?  Well, it is, in a way.  To prioritize, I am finding, I must first find purpose.

“What is the purpose of your blog?” a member of my read and review team challenged a few days ago.  Excellent question.  Writing to you via a blog is decidedly different from my 30-day experiment in writing to you in a book.  Ask God had a distinct and, dare I say, divine directive: ask God to help me write a book for you, the reader, then act it out by writing.  I did as directed and I wrote.  The experience was … glorious!  Oh, how I long to write like that again.  I started each week with a 24-fast and warmed up spiritually each day before writing.  I have never before tasted the fruits of the Spirit, for such a long period, as those precious and sacred 30 days.  I was reminded that God cares deeply about you and desires greatly to talk to you.  For those who have ears to hear.

“My blog has a purpose,” I responded to my friend by instant message.  “That’s a Morey Blog is intended to invite others to Christ by way of our daily doings, our weekly wanderings, and monthly musings.”  I could’ve thrown in yearly yakking, but, I like to work in threes …

… And to help bump people into my book, Ask God, and any other praiseworthy product or sought-after service that will help others and help sustain our family.  I didn’t text that last part to my friend.  I share it with you now.  I do hope to provide for my family by way of my newfound calling: writing and speaking.  It is a dream coming true.  I find purpose in it.

More importantly, I wish for my intent to be motivated out of love for God, not mammon.  To act out of love for God and for you, rather than to get gain, is my ultimate quest.  Thus, all the fretting over this and that, the questions of where to spend my time or not, and the fear of failing that nags insistently on the inner spirit, is all worth it at the end of the day, if that day was spent in the service of my God.  Here’s wisdom: when I am serving you, I am serving God.

Here’s more wisdom: this life is about replacing our selfish desires with what God desires for each of us.  How can we find out what He wants for us?  What talents has He given us to serve others?  Ask Him!  Then open our scriptures and read until the answer comes.  I am hoping to realign my current dreams and desires with His this weekend as I tune in to hear His modern oracles speak.  I will listen hungrily to every word, song and prayer.  How exciting!

Sadly, I missed my scheduled abs workout by 45 minutes (they really need it!).  And I still need to convince myself to give 30 minutes for couple study time.  But I feel at peace as I watch the clock and write, knowing that I have a purpose in life, and more importantly, that life itself has a purpose.

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Looking for more inspiration on how to live a life of purpose and with true intent?  Grab a pen, notebook, and some lemonade.  This video is worth an hour of your time.

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What activities matter most to you?  

How do you prioritize such activities so they get accomplished?  

What do you believe is the purpose of life?

Please comment below:

 

 

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