Big Rocks First...

I guess perhaps it is fitting that I start a post on order and priorities with a confession: I still have a Christmas post brewing...one that I started weeks before Christmas, that has been rattling around in my brain and adding layers like a snowball ever since. I *will* eventually post it, but the list of "New Year" posts to be posted is growing, so I'm going to go ahead and jump in to it and come back to the Christmas post later. My blog will match my scrapbooks...unabashedly non-chronological. :)

I love the week between Christmas and New Year's...well, actually the time between Christmas and "whenever people go back to school and/or work." When I was younger, that was always an exciting week because it was my birthday week. :) That excitement has become decidedly less over the past few years. ;-) The other reason I've always loved that time is that for us, it has always been a "breather week"...a time when the crazy pace of the holidays slows to a crawl and thoughts turn to planning for the new year.

This year we ended up with a few more things on the agenda during that time than usual...albeit many of them last-minute additions, and most of them just fun. :) I've done a lot of planning in my head in the last couple of weeks, while washing dishes, driving the car, or drying my hair. I'm a little behind at transferring some of that planning to paper...something I hope to remedy this afternoon. (Those who know me know I *must* have my lists. :))

I've been pondering priorities, scheduling, and planned projects, trying to figure out the best plan for "fitting things in" in the upcoming months. I am convicted about changes that need to be made in my quiet time. Our school schedule needs a bit of an overhaul. Our grocery budget *must* be reined in; I've relied waaay too much on convenience foods over recent months. I *must* get back to making and sticking to a plan in this area, from budgeting to making menus to actually *cooking* what I plan. Home-improvement projects, creative pursuits, getting aggressive about dealing with my health issues...and the list goes on and on. All good, all necessary. All rather overwhelming, if approached in *my* strength.

I'll be posting more about plans, prayers, and ponderings in the area of "getting it together in the new year", but for this morning, I thought I would share another encouraging and convicting blog post from Ann Voskamp. I've read and heard and seen and even taught the illustration she uses. And yet...I am continually tossing small rocks in one after another, and then at the end of the day, fighting frustration over the fact that "I never have time" for the big ones. It's one of those areas in which I can almost *hear* my friend Kecia's dad saying, "Remember What You Know". How easily we forget.

This post is such an excellent reminder. I need to make it my home page and read it every morning! I am *so* bad about wasting the "15 minutes" of time here and there that could add up to progress in so many areas. I need to be reminded every day of the value of those small pockets of time. And I love the fact that she considers "creative pursuits" to be a "big rock". Creativity is such a high priority for me on the *inside* (which is another blog post of it's very own :)); why do I feel guilty about making it an actual priority on our schedule?? I also love her prayer at the end...my heart's cry for the year ahead.