Values and Priorities

Yesterday morning Jim sent me a link to an article he had read, and it bothered me all day.  It's about priorities, and here is the part that got to me:

"If an executive has their Blackberry at his kid’s ballgame because work it still a priority, then how much does he value the fleeting time he has to watch his kids grow up?

If the urgent always takes priority over the important, then how much do we value the important over the urgent?

If indeed we value things that we are not prioritizing or prioritizing things we do not value as much, then perhaps it is time to realign our priorities..."

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I have been thinking a lot about the time I spend crafting and decorating and blogging, and I have been asking myself a lot of questions:  Why do those things matter to me?  Is it okay to spend time on them?  Does God approve of this use of my time?  Can I justify making a room look pretty when there are people all over the world who don't have clean clothes to wear or food to eat?

And what about my kids?  Are they getting the best of me?

At the beginning of the year we signed up to sponsor two children through Compassion and World Vision.  And as I have thought about their lives and their needs, I have felt more and more guilty about my own life.  I feel guilty for having so much, for pursuing beauty when it is so inconsequential, for putting my time and energy into things that don't really matter (like, big-picture matter).   And yet I know that guilt and shame are not of our Father.  I know that the enemy is taking my good thoughts and using them to make me feel bad about who I am.  He starts distorting things so that I feel bad about having food to eat and beautiful clothes to wear and the fact that my kids have toys...  And pretty soon I even feel guilty for living in an affluent country.


I won't let Satan win.  After weeks of grappling with these thoughts and mulling them over all day yesterday, here is where I have landed on these issues:

- God made me this way.  I have an eye for aesthetics and a passion for the fun, creative, and crafty.  I can choose to embrace or deny these things, but they're still a part of who I am.  I can use my skills to bless friends and family with homemade gifts and baby showers and comfortable, safe spaces, or I can use those skills to seek fame and fortune, in which case I will be deeply disappointed.

- God made this world beautiful just because He could.  Several people have reminded me of this in the last few days, and I appreciate the reminder.  I have always been obsessed with trees (ob.sessed.) and I love to include them in my decorating because they make me think of my favorite Designer.  He appreciates beauty and is the source of all creativity.  Beauty isn't bad... God MADE everything beautiful!

- My kids are not being cheated.  I work hard to make sure that's true.  Sometimes I get wrapped up in a project too much and regret that I didn't spend more quality time with them, but that is true for every mom.  I am aware of my selfish tendencies and set boundaries so that the kids do not suffer too often.  And the very fact that a simple article on priorities could make me cry shows that I care deeply and my kids are going to be okay.

Honoring the Lord is what I value most in this life.  I'm going to look harder at the way I spend my time and make sure that it is also my top priority.

Reaching Out

Have you noticed a few changes on my blog?  First, I have finally created an "About Me" page for new visitors.  You can get to the new page by clicking on my photo in the left sidebar.  I also added another button on the left.  See that button that says, "Vote for Us! TopMommyBlogs.com" over there with the very cute, very skinny mom juggling some stuff that's hard to discern?  That button is there because I am attempting to find more readers interested in what I have to say.

When I moved to Blogger a few months ago, I did it because I was hoping to find a platform that was more customizable (without having to know tons of html), and I wanted to find something that would help me to network with other people who share my interests.  Well, that's nice in theory, but people have to find me first.  There is nothing more discouraging than writing a tutorial on curtains only to find out that only six people have read it and not one of them is interested in sewing.  I want to share my thoughts, ideas, and inspiration with people who care!  And in order to do that, I need to network a little and find more bloggers like me. 

 

I don't have high hopes of becoming a famous blogger, and I'm not looking to win a popularity contest.  A lot of people have told me that I should consider writing decorating tutorials or even starting a home decorating business.  Honestly, I have no idea what I will do professionally when my kids are all in school, but I feel like I have a lot to share in decorating, education, and more, so my blog is a great place to figure out what I have to offer and what people want to know about.

People go to Top Mommy Blogs to find new blogs written by people with similar interests.  The blogs are ranked, and currently I am number 1,058 on page 34.  That's not so good.  However, every time you hit that "Vote for Us" button, it helps my blog to move up the list and get seen by more people.

You can help my blog to be much more successful. Here's what you can do to help me:

1.) Vote for me once every day.  Just click the button and it will take you to the Top Mommy Blogs website.  If you don't want to stay there and browse, you don't have to.  By simply going to that website from my blog, my rankings improve and more people find me.

2.)  If you like a blog post I've written, share it on facebook.

3.)  Share my blog with other people who might be interested in it.

4.)  Follow my blog.  You can click the little "follow" button over there in the sidebar.  Or, you can sign up to read my posts in a reader.  

5.)  If you are an awesome blogger and would be willing to design a button and banner for my blog, I'd love you forever.  I know what I want, but I don't have photoshop and I have zero patience for doing design on the computer.

As I said, I'm not trying to win a contest.  But if I'm going to invest time in blogging, I want it to be worth something.

If you are voting or sharing my work, would you leave a comment and let me know?  It means a lot to me personally.  Thanks so much for supporting me!!

Ta-Da!

Well, I did it!  Welcome to my new blog!  I know it's nothing exciting yet, but maybe it will be eventually.  Hang with me!

I have to admit that it makes me a little sad to move to another blog platform.  I have been blogging on our old site for seven years, and when I started blogging, no one even knew what a blog was!  I still remember Jim trying to explain it to me, and I simply didn't get it.  But things change, technology changes, and my reasons for blogging have changed.  This move makes the most sense for me right now.

I'm hoping that this blog will better reflect me and my interests than the old one did.  You'll find a little bit of everything you find on other "mom blogs," including too many pictures of my children, examples of decorating, crafts, family outings, and random ramblings about my daily life, but they will all have my personal spin.

If you cared enough to come read this post, you must be at least a little curious about what I have to say.  Nothing would make me happier than for you to subscribe and follow my blog!

Except having you comment.  Nothing is sadder than a lonely blog.