Maybe no isn't a bad word, after all

I just read this post and I find that I have the same problem. My extended family, folks at the school, and sometimes even my husband all think that since I am a stay-at-home mom and my kids are in school all day, I must have massive amounts of free time just waiting for them to lay claim to it. And I feel guilty that I'm not the world's best at time management, so I think:

1) I should be able to do that . . . . and say yes. Or
2) If I don't do it, who will? . . . . and say yes. Or
3) that won't take much time . . . . and say yes. Or
4) the boys will be really happy if I do that . . . and say yes. Or
5) I don't want to admit that I don't really have time for that . . .. and say yes.

In reality, what often happens is . . .

1) I can do that . . . but it is a massive, detail-oriented, painstaking job, and those three things make me a nervous, irritable, procrastinating wreck. Really.

2) I was not the first on the list, just the first sucker to say yes to it. And it's a job that will be mine forever now.

3) Actually, it takes a lot of time and is a drawn-out project. (I am notorious for thinking I'm going to accomplish 15 things in the time it really takes to do 2 of them. Quite a recipe for frustration.)

4) The boys couldn't care less. My oldest thinks he has been seriously deprived because he's never been in day care, so I'm thinking that he's not really good at seeing the whole picture. This reality is the reason I've really quit stressing over scrapbooking. They're boys, they are not going to want to keep 20 scrapbooks when they're adults (and at the rate I was going, that was going to be a conservative estimate!)

5) I do it, but with a poor attitude and grumping and grumbling the whole time. It makes me unpleasant to those around me and I have to seek forgiveness.

So, I'm going to pray more and longer and be slower to answer. I'm already managing my household (not well, either), facilitating 2 Bible studies (soon to be 3) and trying to run a Cub Scout pack, and that's all, folks.

So thanks, Queen B, for inspiring me to think about this topic. I want to be a woman whose priorities are in the right place: God first, my husband and kids, then those things that can be added to that list where there is time and God's blessing. I don't ever want to think I have wasted my time and talents by using them somewhere God didn't intend.