Mulltitasking Gone Wrong

Never multitask while driving!

We all know that multitasking is good and we as moms do it all the time, like..........
-make dinner, while talking on the phone and teaching spelling.
-referee a fight between 2 children while at the same time counseling your best friend on your cell phone via text.
-return emails during your kids soccer practice.
-nurse a baby and paint your nails at the same time (yes, I have done this and actually you get to where you can nurse a baby and do just about anything!)

Well, you get the picture.
We were made for this, as women, you know. I really think God did design the female species to be able to do 3 things at once so we could manage a household and children.

But sometimes multitasking can really go wrong.  I was convicted recently about this so I'm speaking to myself too.  
Here are some examples, particularly related to our spiritual lives; things that I have done to save time (I am all about efficiency and saving time.)

Listening to my Bible on speaker phone while I'm showering and getting dressed in the morning.

Having my prayer time while jogging/walking in the morning.

My only time of praise/worship happening in the car while driving kids around town.

Wow, what an efficient Christian mom I had become!  I could check 6 things off my mental to-do list in the time it takes me to do 3!

Now, there is nothing wrong with doing the above things, but when they begin to replace our regular Bible reading, quiet time or prayer time then we are headed for trouble.  You know, God doesn't want just part of us.  He doesn't want to be in our "multi-tasking/how fast can I get this done" category.  We really need to spend quiet time alone with Him, just sitting in His presence and mediating on Him and His word, just really worshipping Him with ALL our focus on Him.  I read an article recently in a popular secular magazine that went on and on about meditation being so healthy for people and how healthy, happy, famous, successful people do it everyday, etc, etc.  I thought how the world is searching for peace and sometimes they know better than us Christians the importance of spending time quiet, clearing our minds and focusing on the good things in our lives (the Lord) and cultivating a thankful spirit. 

And while I'm thinking about multitasking with the Lord, I also got convicted about multitasking with our children.  Our children are our most precious gift from the Lord and how many times do we not really listen to them, really watch them, really play with them because we are "multitasking"?

Just because we rationalize what we are doing as multitasking does not make it right.  I pray that we can slow down and focus on what we're doing, have our true quiet time with the Lord and really be in the moment with our children. In fact, my littlest guy wants me to play soccer with him right now and I'm going to do fully.....no multitasking allowed!

Teaching Our Children to Love the Lord

This is where my husband has his devotional time with the Lord and he always includes whoever is awake at the moment.

I know I still have a long way to go in raising kids, but at my little Mom's group that I have at my house monthly, we talked about ways we can raise children who love the Lord.  Here are a few things we talked about:


Starting young with our children......always pointing them to God.


Family devotions and prayer time.  Bible time with our children.


Using bedtime as a real time to connect with your child.  Usually this time of night children really open-up and want to share what is on their little hearts.


Having them memorize passages of Scripture.


Being a loving and gracious parent so that they can easily relate to God as a loving father.  Meaning not being to over-bearing and dictatorial. 


Encourage godly friendships and discouraging ungodly peer influences.  Pray for God to send like-minded friends their way. 


Most importantly, setting an example.  Remember children learn so much more from our actions and attitudes than from our words.

Sisters

Since I did a brothers post, I knew I had to do a sisters post too.  Here I am with my 4 daughters!  Who would of ever thought I would have 4 daughters?!  Growing-up I babysat more for boys and they seemed easier for me to handle at the time, so I always said that I wanted all boys.  Well after having 2 boys in less than 2 years, I was so elated to have a little girl.  When she was born I wasn't wearing my contacts or glasses and I didn't believe everyone that said, "It's a girl!"  Anna was my only girl for 8 years.  In fact, she had 5 brothers (counting the little boy I had that was stillborn) before she had a sister.  Anna prayed and prayed for a little sister......actually many times she would tell me that she wanted a teenage sister, but that wasn't going to happen : )  Anyway, when we found out that we were having our fifth boy and that she wasn't going to have a sister, at least not yet, she said "well, was he a cute boy on the sonogram?"  I said "yes."  And she responded, "then I guess it's OK."  Actually, she had dream when I was pregnant with my fourth son that she saw Jesus holding a baby girl and she asked Jesus for the baby.  He told her, not yet.  We always say that she prayed so hard for a sister that she got 3 in a row!  And she is such a wonderful big sister to them.....just like the big teenage sister that she always wanted : )

In this picture with my husband, you can totally see their individual personalities coming out.  Anna trying to pose so nice, but actually she's so crazy and silly most of the time, just like MaryKate, the youngest, is being in this picture.  Those two are a lot alike.  We like to joke that MK is Anna on steroids. Caroline is my little mom and helper and my sporty girl.  Ellie is my quieter, snuggly one who loves ballet and anything really girlie.  I know they all may look alike, but they are all so unique.  God is so creative!

Praying For Our Children

Recently I shared on praying for our children at a Mom's group that meets at my house.  I thought I would share some of the things we talked about. 

 Praying for our children is such an awesome responsibility and so very important.  So many times we get bogged down with this and that parenting style or this and that parenting book and worried about so many things pertaining to our children.......like schooling options, friends, extracurricular activities, media influence.  And while all these things are important, we tend to neglect praying daily for our kids and speaking blessings over them.  I love the book "The Power of a Praying Parent" by Stormie Ormartian.  It is a powerful book and I highly recommend it.  I have been using this book for over 10 years now.  Another book I recommend on prayer is "The Blessing" by Gary Smalley.  It talks about speaking and praying blessings over our children, similar to how the Jews pray.  I love to do this on my morning walks.  

To quote Stormie, "If you are not covering you children in prayer everyday, you are leaving their lives to chance."  What a frightening thought!  She also says, "God has given you spiritual authority over your children, and your prayers have power.  This doesn't mean there will always be an immediate answer.  Sometimes it can take days, weeks, months, or even years. But your prayers are never meaningless.  If you are praying, something is happening."  

I like to seek God specifically for each child and write down in my journal prayer requests for them and any area their are struggling in.  My husband and I also pray together for them, which I think is very powerful.  Prayer is not something you have to have long stretches of solitude and silence to do either (we all know that with small children this is hard to come by : ) I like to pray when I'm doing laundry, the dishes, in the shower, in the van driving around and like I said on my walks. 

Colossians 4:2 "Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful."