In my last article I revealed the harried scheduled life we had been leading for some months, as well as God’s hitting me over the head with the fact that my checkpoint was overdue. I began my pulling back by using my method of Visual Simplicity in regards to my calendar. But there is so much more to my journey and yours as well.

Once I began to trim and streamline my schedule, there was much more to be done. I continued to pray for guidance on wisdom for the next step, because it is so difficult for me; commitment to reprioritizing. This means that we need to make a commitment between ourselves and God that we will abide by His priorities for our lives. This can be painful for the overscheduled, over burdened, and guilt ridden wife and mother. As we trim back our commitments and involvement in activities to help us achieve a more simplified life, we will still be faced with pressures to commit elsewhere. As I mentioned previously, the first step is learning to say, “No.” The next step is to verbalize to others what you are doing.

It is an important part of our re-commitment to God’s purpose for our lives that we are able to say it out loud to others. As you continue in your prayer life regarding correct priorities, learn to express this to others. You can make simple statements in your daily life such as, “My family comes first,” or “I need to get my husband’s opinion and see how this will fit in with our family.” In the beginning this will be difficult. Some may see you as selfish or old fashioned for seeking your husband’s guidance on decisions of time (trust me on this one). But you will also notice something else the more you do this. It not only becomes easier, but those around you applying pressure will have a respect for the boundaries you have set up in your life. They may not agree with you, but they will respect your decision making.

Do not hesitate to include your husband every step of the way! Not only will you see your relationship flourish by your valuing his opinions and help, you will also notice that you will experience internal joy. Each time we validate our husbands, God blesses us. Not only that, but you will likely discover that your husband doesn’t mind one bit being the bad guy when needed. He would rather have you keeping your priorities straight, which results in a better attitude, than worry what others will think if you say, “My husband doesn’t want me to take on anything else right now,” or “My husband and I are making a conscious choice to keep our family life simple so that we can build our relationships with each other and our children.” I have yet to speak with a man who wouldn’t accept the character of “bad guy” in exchange for his wife.

We need to keep in mind that God has given us the priorities that are right for us. They are:

  • Realtionship with Him
  • Spouse
  • Children
  • Employer
  • Everything else

When we work our lives with these priorities in place we find life is good, even during trials. I know I can have some type of life catastrophe put right in front of me and not even blink an eye when I have these priorities firmly in place. Change is difficult for all of us. Especially when we have developed habits, but taming the chaos our lives sometimes become or currently is sends out a Red Alarm! We need to pull back piece by piece, bit by bit. Continue to seek wisdom from both God and your husband. Let others around you know you are undergoing a “restructure.” Adding this to your re-vamped schedule using Visual Simplicity will tame the beast we call chaos before you know it!