Isn't It About Time

I am a mother.  It is what I do all day.  It is my job.

And in my line of work, TIME is my stock-in-trade.  Time is what I have to work with to mother my children. Like everyone else, I get 24 hours a day to invest where I see fit. 

Here are a few of the places I choose to allot my time:
Sleeping, eating, cooking, laundry, school work with kids, house cleaning, family reading aloud, fulfilling church callings, blogging, spending time with Abe, talking with children, snuggling little ones, changing diapers, bathing children, grocery shopping, exercising, talking with friends, trips to the library, personal reading, disciplining children, doing girls' hair, attending book clubs, teaching piano lessons, planning birthday parties, clothing my people, reminding children to practice.

I could go on, but you probably get the idea.  I have way more things to do than I can possibly actually accomplish at the same time.  I like to imagine that everything sits on a vertical conveyer belt.  Eventually every important thing will make it's way to the top of the conveyer belt and then I'll get to it. No need to panic, every needful thing will get taken care of.  It might just have to wait a little while. 

Just as someone can overextend themselves financially and have more obligations to meet than they have money to go around, I'm afraid I may be overextended with my time.  Some things are taking a lot longer to make it to the top of the conveyer belt.  Cleaning my bathrooms, for example.  Bathing my children does not happen quite as frequently as I would like it too.  I would love to have more time for reading, more time with friends, more time to devote to my calling, a cleaner house, neatly folded and put away laundry. 

I think I am in Mom Debt.  I have been putting off several "mom bills" for too long.  Most of them have to do with cleaning and organizing my house.  I need to spend some of my time putting things back in order.  But you see, it's not like I've been sitting on my bon-bon eating bon-bons all day.  I am busy working all day.  I feel like I am investing my 24 hours very wisely.  But I just don't seem to be able to keep up with the desired pace of my conveyer belt.

Which leads me to the question-- Is that actually a problem?

It feels uncomfortable to me-- that is, it feels uncomfortable to me to not be able to get done everything I'd like to when I want to.  But I am an optimist.  I feel very sure that I am doing the things God would have me do right now.  That being the case, I feel confident that if I work hard, with his help, I will be able to accomplish every needful thing in a reasonable time frame.  Also, I'm a big believer in continually working at a hard thing and then that thing becoming an easy thing.  Figuring out how to manage all of my time obligations is something I believe I can get better at.  I am okay to struggle for a while at times with the discomfort of not having everything under control, while I stretch myself in order to get stronger and wiser.