The first question for the 'between-sessions personal study' is pretty easy and straightforward. Refer to your participant's guides and answer the five sub-questions of question #1. Don't worry - they're mostly all multiple choice, and I promise it'll take you less than five minutes.
Done? Okay. Based on your responses, how would you describe the impact your pace of life has on you - physically, emotionally, relationally, spiritually? Pick one of these to discuss on the comments on this blog.
For me, going through this exercise might be a little skewed. Transitioning from working full time, to then part time, to then staying home full time with Ellie - I feel like I have a surplus of time right now. I'd say I'm in the 'honeymoon phase' of stay-at-hom-mom-dom right now. Don't get me wrong - it's not like I'm sitting at home eating bonbons all day. I stay plenty busy keeping up with Ellie and keeping our house in order, but compared to doing it all while also working...presently, I'm feeling fairly well balanced.
For this question, I'll discuss how my pace of life has impacted me relationally. More specifically, my relationship with Ron. A lot has changed in the last month. We no longer drive together to work, so we don't have that 30-60 minutes of talking with just the two of us. But on the other hand, we have more time in the evening as Ron isn't coaching soccer right now. But, there are many times that Ron will be home from work, and once Ellie's gone to bed, I'll busy myself by doing housework. My reason? Because if I do it now while Ellie's sleeping, I won't have to do it tomorrow when she's awake and I can spend more time with her. This is good for my relationship with Ellie, but where does that leave my relationship with Ron? With every choice I make about how I spend my time, there's an opportunity cost involved. I'm trying to do a better job of balancing this so that I can spend time with BOTH my husband and my daughter.
First off Kenny and I have to say how thankful we are to God for leading us to this group! He is moving in our lives and this study is completely relevant!!
ReplyDeleteI (Sam) have to agree with Jillian as our schedules are probably very similar. I feel like I do have a lot of control with my daily routine. I have plenty of time for all of the areas...physically, I have always made it a priority to get to the gym (bc if I don't I am quite the bear to be around :)) Relationally, we have a lot of time to spend together with Ivy and with each other. Spiritually, I know that I can count on Ivy's nap time to carve out that 5 min of stillness and have a bit of devotional and prayer time, which I failed miserably today and seldom do I make it the priority. I had a hard time grasping how my busy pace of life impacted me emotionally, and then I realized that I often feel a sense of discontentment in life, like I don't really know what my purpose is right now. This has all happened since having Ivy and not working. I realized that if I took the time to make my "God time" a priority every day, that feeling would probably be filled with contentment and peace and joy that only God can give!!