It’s here! My planner for the upcoming homeschool year, and I am excited! A smidge overwhelmed. (Maybe more than a smidge). But take heart. It’s going to be great!

I am a lover of planners, checklists, grocery lists, meal plans, and so on. Oh! what satisfaction it brings to write that check mark beside a task completed.

Amidst childrearing, homemaking, homeschooling, gardening, harvesting, chicken caring, herbal experimenting, and more my mind becomes quite crowded. To clear my mind, I whip out my planner, journal, or notepad and jot down all my goals and tasks for the day.

Normally my thoughts come out a jumbled mess. So next, I start prioritizing.

These days, homeschooling takes first place. But with the garden producing, harvesting and preserving compete for top spot.

Throw in my cleaning goal for the day, meal plan, and any tasks my husband needs or wishes done, and my day is set.

Easy peasy! Let’s go!

And then… the kids start crying and need your attention and love. Squabbles break out and refereeing needs doing. Accidental messes add to the chaos. The hobbits need feeding, AGAIN! A book wants to be read. A game played. And the unplanned goes on and on.

Where is my planner? On pause. My beautiful check marks? Absent.

I’m reminded of a verse in the Bible.

James 4:13-15:

“Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit’; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.’”

I love my planner. But many days, the unplanned (for me) happens. God who is sovereign and omniscient has His own plans for me and my day. I need to willingly reprioritize my day. Instead of becoming frustrated and out of sorts, I need to exhibit patience and peace.

To help me with this. I start my mornings with prayer. “God, You know my plans for today. Help me get them done. And if You have other plans for me. Calm my fluster. Help me take heart and reprioritize. May this day whatever it be bring You glory. Amen.”

When the check marks start flying and tasks accomplished, praise God. He has allowed you to “live and do this or that”. But when the unplanned threatens to ruin your day. Pause. Pray not my will but Thine. TAKE HEART. Reprioritize. And moved forward with purpose, peace, and joy.

Let’s get going!