Wondering what Mommy Homework is??? Each week you will have an “assignment” here to share in our comments here on this site. You will love this-both sharing AND enjoying answers by others. Some of them, I compile into an ebook (contributors can resell as a product of their own–be sure to submit your email and full name when you register so I can credit you appropriately!).
The result is AWESOME!
We get to know each other…we are encouraged in our journey…and we glean super ideas from other great moms!
Ready for this week’s MH? This is going to be a really good one!
This week, our topic for our Tuesday Talk-a-Latte Chat is RULES TO LIVE BY. This topic is the perfect topic for our Mommy Homework as well.
We live in a culture that is rules-resistant yet if we want an abundant, lavish, fully blessed life, there are some rules that we must live by. You probably know many that have made a big difference in your own life. Some have been taught by our parents and grandparents. Some have been instilled through sermons. Some have been learned the HARD WAY. 🙂
Today, share 3 of your most important rules to live by. What helps you stay on track? What helps you to make the right decisions? What has helped you to reach for the abundant, lavish, blessed life that Jesus Christ died to give you?
Share your “rules” this week. And, don’t miss checking back to read the posts from your mommy pals here. Have fun! 
DIG IN!
Love ya!
Cindy
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Rule #1: Remember the past, plan for the future, but live in the now.
Dwelling on past hurts will never erase them and the future is uncertain. If your eyes and heart are always focused on what’s behind and ahead, you’ll be blind to the blessings in your life today.
Concentrate your mind and heart on experiencing your life rather than recording it for posterity. Memories may fade, but experiences impact who we are. It would be a shame to have a shoe box full of photographic memories, but to have missed out on the experiences they represent.
Rule #2: Don’t put off til tomorrow what you can do today…you never know when the faucet might come off in your hand or your middle child might run over your toes with a scooter…see rule #1.
While this applies to “getting stuff done,” it also applies to remembering to appreciate our loved ones and God’s gifts to us by taking time out of our busy schedules to actually (for example) take that walk on the beach at sunset rather than just talking about doing it some day.
Rule #3: When the going gets tough….pray. When things are good…pray. You are not alone.
1. God first, husband second, children third, myself last
2. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
3. Homemade is better than store bought (esp in desserts!) 😉
Mary Damask
The number one rule to live by is: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
Rule number two is: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind.
Rule number three is: Live, Laugh, Love.
In a world where everyone is rushing around, taking some time to stop and contemplate is so necessary. Slowing down and just enjoying each other’s company like this past weekend gave us the opportunity to do is so valuable. But most of all, taking time to thank our Lord for all that He provides for us. These are the rules that help me stay on track!
Robin
This topic has been on my mind lately. I want to be sure to pass things along to my daughters that will help them with what I learned the hard way. The first is to look to the Lord’s word first. I have yet to have a need to know something that is not addressed in the Bible. Some things may not seem so obvious–especially those dealing with today’s technology. But, Ecclesiastes tells us there is nothing new under the sun. Today’s challenges only look different. The second, don’t take yourself so seriously. This can go two different ways. The first is that things in life happening around you are not necessarily about you–comments made, etc. You may be excluded from an event with your friends–this doesn’t mean they don’t like you. There may have been only room enough for so many. Too often we (especially us women) jump to the conclusions that hurt us the most when in reality, it isn’t about us at all. The second way to not take yourself seriously is in the way that prevents you from being joyful. If you are too serious minded, you usually miss out some of the great blessings in life. An example is playing with children-as a child. Run and play tag, get down on the ground and play, do something silly (not foolish), laugh! The last is don’t procrastinate. Don’t put off the dreaded chores, don’t put off calling someone you need to speak with-today, don’t tell your children “tomorrow we’ll do that thing you want to do”. The day will come when you wish you had done–whatever it was–when you had the chance.
Just my thoughts 🙂
These are homemaking “rules” that I try to live by, but not always successfully.
1. Clean house before you leave for vacation so you don’t come home to mess-this is from my mom
2. Don’t go to bed without cleaning kitchen, no dirty dishes left overnight.-this is from my paternal grandma.
3. Plan your menus before you go shopping-from my mom. I also plan my menus to work around what is on sale for the week. This has kept my grocery bill under $100 for the week for a family of 5.
4. Write all family plans/activities on the same calendar. Plus keep a weekly planning sheet on the fridge.
5. No computer until chores/school are done.
I know nothing earth shattering but it helps my home run more smoothly.
I’m still hammering out my Rules to Live By. The ones I started with are no longer relevant for me. =)
1. I HAVE to have my Quiet Time in the mornings. If I don’t – my day just drags in every way imaginable. I HAVE to make drinking in the Word my VERY FIRST THING so I can chew on it and talk to the Lord about it throughout the day.
2. Structure is a GOOD thing. =) I laugh cuz I’m SO spontaneous, but am finding that structured days – schedules – are very helpful for accomplishing the needful things. I have to remember Proverbs 16:1 – People may make plans in their minds, but only the Lord can make them come true. My husband doesn’t require much and I ask for his input often, but I am also finding women to help me be accountable in this area.
3. Nothing (except #1 & #2) is more important than TIME with my family. I fight this one. I shift my priorities when #1 and #2 are out of whack, and my family suffers. BIG TIME.
The Three Most Important Rules to live by
(1) Put God first. I don’t think that it is a coincidence that the first commandment that the Lord told Moses to write down and teach the people was ‘I am the Lord, your God, you should have no other gods before me.’ He is a jealous God. He wants us to give Him the glory that He is due. God created you in His image. There is nothing that is, or was, or every will be that is not in the hands of God. We need to seek out what His will for our lives are. We need to pray constantly. There is no way for us to put God in His proper place in our life if we do not spend time with Him through prayer and Bible reading and study.
(2) Be Intentional in your living. It is SO easy to just ‘exist’. To do the next thing. Believe me, I am there. I have to constantly strive toward breaking myself from the habit of just doing what needs to be done without giving much consideration to what it was or whether or not it was ‘the best’ choice for my time. I’m not there. This is a struggle in my life, no doubt. I think that in our society, busy is confused with productive. I think it is all too easy to be exceptionally busy and still completely unproductive. There is always something to be done, but if it isn’t the right things, we are wasting our time. This, of course, brings us back to our Rule 1, since the best way to know whether or not you are doing the ‘right’ things is to be walking in fellowship with our Lord, Jesus Christ.
(3) Well, I’m assuming that at least MOST of my readers are moms. For us, I think that the third most important rule to live by is: Teach Our Children what is truly important. Above all, we want to lead our children to the saving knowledge of the Gospel. Our society will encourage us to help our children grow to be successful in many areas: academically, athletically, and socially. Do we want these things for our children? Of course! However, what is really important, what really matters. . . . is to help our children become a person of faith and character.
Rules to Live BY
1) Always love, no matter what has happens choose to love.
2) Idle hands get into trouble, so work! Try to always be doing something that needs to be done. Hard work helps heal the soul.
3)Do your best to have a good attitude and be thankful. This one can be really hard but makes a huge difference!
First off ~ place God above ALL things and live your life as a prayer.
Second ~ take time to ‘smell the roses’; We need to take time to appreciate all we have been given. How else can we live an abundant life that God wants for us if we are too busy getting to the next thing.
Third ~ Take time to nurture the relationships in our lives. God did not create us to live in isolation, but rather in relationship with him AND with others.
1) Always use cash. Spending cash hurts more and you won’t spend money that you don’t have with you.
2) Always have a fun project and a practical project going even if you can only spend a few minutes a day on them. It isn’t fun to wake up after a few years and realize that you have let the day-to-day stuff keep the big stuff from being done. The fun project makes sure that you spend some time doing what you enjoy, and both projects give you a sense of accomplishment. That sense of accomplishment will snowball into more accomplishment.
3) Never forget to take care of yourself. This is not selfish! You can’t fill anyone’s cup if your coffee pot is empty. Get plenty of rest, eat good food, drink your water, take time to have fun and enjoy life every day, have goals (and go after them), and most importantly don’t forget to talk to your Heavenly Father (He loves you and wants more good for you than you could ever imagine). You will be full of something that will spill all over your family, make sure that it is good stuff.
1. Having time with the Lord each morning-in the Word and in prayer-asking for his guidance and direction through the day. This is what we expect our children to do also each morning before we start chores, schoolwork, etc.
2. As far as decisions-I try to be led by my peace. I ask the Lord, and if there is no peace, I don’t do it. We’ve tried to explain that to our children also-the Amplifed Bible says to “let peace be your umpire”-that is what we try to do.
3. We try to keep the Lord first, and then our family-everything else has to come after that. It took us a while to get this down, but our family time is very important to us and we’ve learned not to put everyone else first.
My three most important rules:
1)Love God, which means obeying His commands. “If you love me, you will obey my commands.”
2)Love people, just as I love myself. “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
3)Forgive. No one is perfect, least of all myself. Forgive.
1. priorities- God, Husband, Children, Extended family, Church family, world. Not sure where self fits in. I think it kind of varies depending on season, and depending on needs. We women are good and squeezing stuff in though! I do know that when self is constantly last, bad stuff happens.
2.” never leave your partner behind” Fireproof. This i definately learned the hard way but its now like a mantra. Your dh doesn’t have to be PERFECT. Its ok for other men to have better traits here and there, you don’t get to SEE the ugly side of THEM. DON’T COVET, because while you may have not gotten the PERFECT man, if one exists, you are certainly not the perfect wife either!
3. Leave the house basically clean before going out places, dishes done, etc. Do laundry regularily, both washing/drying AND putting away, don’t get behind, because worshipping at the altar of mount laundry is no fun.
4. Babies are more important than cleaning, if you are blessed with them, then God has high expectations for you to nurture them,not just clean around them.
5. Get used to constant contraditions in priorities, ie.” you should put babies first, don’t clean too much” combined with “clean lots and lots so your babies don’t choke on stuff” It doesn’t make sense, it doesn’t feel fair, but sometimes you are stuck making choices that are just subpar, the lesser of 2 evils. Sometimes, in certain seasons its REALLY hard because you don’t know WHICH IS the lesser of two evils!! This is life and i’m pretty sure it gets easier.
I have enjoyed reading everyone’s comments so much. There are many here that I also rely on to keep life going in a practical way but I think the three things I come back to remind myself of so often and seem to affect so many aspects of my life are:
1. Know God and His character – never underestimate Him or try to put Him in a box.
2. Know myself, warts and all – who I am and who God designed me to be.
3. Know that God loves me and has promised that He will work all things together for good for me, as one who loves Him and whom He has called.
If I keep all these things in perspective then the other rules for my day are lived out in the context of grace. The routines I have are there to honour and serve my God, and not followed in my own strength but in the grace He gives me. When I fail at them I am not surprised because I know I am a sinner, but I can know forgiveness because of who God is and who I am in Christ. When trials come I need to remember not to rely on the “rules” to get me through or panic if they cause my “rules” to go out the window. I remember that they are there to draw me to HIm and I can face them with peace because I know a sovereign God who loves me has allowed them in my life.
So these are my 3 “rules” to live by. (But I also really like the one my friend told me years ago, similar to Susan’s #1 – Enjoy where God has put you today and don’t live in the past or the future. Great advice!)
1. If its not fun for all, its not fun…children that like to tease hate this one!
2. Evaluate decisions in light of eternity. What will it matter then, or how
will it affect eternity?
3. Work first, then fun. There will always be fun, so sometimes the work
never gets done if you wait.
Looking forward to seeing others list…Carolyn Griggs
The three most important rules for me to live by and stay on track are.
First and most important is my special time with my Lord. I need His word. Days just do not seem to go right without it. There have been some of them and it seems like nothing seems to work out or get done, at least as it should.
I need time all day talking with Him, not just asking for needs. Some needs may be real important, emergency needs, health, stress only to name a couple. I need time to talk with my Lord about all the great and marvelous things he has done for me. Without the air, sun, rain, trees, grass, flowers, clouds, on and on where would I be? Then time to thank Him for all He has done for me physical and spiritual. That is no little thing.
Second is my family. First in the family is my husband. With him being retired I always need to be ready do things with him, that he might decide to do that may not have been in the days plan. In other words be flexible. Usually turns out to be a more fun day.
Two of my grandchildren come a couple part days for home schooling each week. I really love doing the history and science. See I get to do the fun things in school. (The subjects I loved) Now that school is over one gets to come and do sewing. I love the time with them but there has been times I have had to canceled, just for me to recover from whatever has been going on.
Then there are those times your family comes home from out of state. That always takes extra time to prepare and is an enjoyable time when they are here. I have learned there are a lot of things that do not need to be done. They are coming to see us, so maybe there will be a spider or two here to welcome them to. 🙂 I do a once through, but it does not have to be spotless. I have learned that if I wear myself out cleaning and all, than I do not really enjoy their time here. So what is more important?
Third my church. I always plan to be there when there are services. I just believe that is just the way it should be.
As far as working in the church, yes if there is a job God wants you to do you should do it. I also have learned that as I get older I can not do all I use to do. Our Youth Pastor is over our Childrens Church, and a few years ago asked me to teach the 2’s – 3’s. He gave me some teen girls, to help me and he wanted me to train then to teach. Now I am getting “smarter”. The girl I have now I only teach once or maybe twice a mouth. Saves a lot of lesson preparation time for me and I am still there for coaching if needed.
All of these help keep me on track and have a blessed life with Christ.
Nancy Lewis
#1 Always try to keep God first. This is easier said than done. It’s hard to remain conscious of God and seeking his will constantly when bombarded by the other stuff of life. But I do my best to spend time each morning alone with God, limit my reading and to things that bring honor to God, attend church every week, and fill my mind, mouth, and my ears with praise to Him as often as possible.
#2 Don’t make things complicated, but KISS – Keep It Simple, Sweetie. The best solution so often is the simplest one. If I don’t have time to spend hours in the kitchen preparing a gourmet meal for my kids, that’s ok – they’ll probably appreciate simpler food anyway. And it’s better to pack light for a trip than try to cram twice as much luggage into the minivan with 5 kids.
#3 When in doubt, pray. You can never pray too much. Of course I know I pray too little, but I’ve developed a habit of verbal prayer whenever I’m out walking alone or get into the car to go somewhere by myself – no, that strange redhead out there isn’t really talking to herself – she’s praying!
Rules I live by:
This is a close topic right now that is being tested to the limit with me and my family.
1) God must ALWAYS come first! No matter what may happen in our lives He MUST be first. Some that we have learned to ask is “WWJD” “What Would Jesus Do”.
2) Family will always come next. Family has become so near and dear over the past few years but over the past few weeks after learning how priceless the gift of family and life can be and how short, we have drawn closer and NOTHING but God will come between us.
3) Always live as it might be the last second, minute, hour or day that you might live. Life is so short and memories are so important! I have always loved taking pictures but since my diagnosis of cancer, I find myself grabbing the camera to capture the moment of those I love and the beauty around me.
4) Find something to be thankful for. “When the going gets tough, the tough gets going.” I have found that if I can find something I’m thankful for no matter how small it may be, the darkness always seems not so dark.
5) Pray without ceasing. I have learned that prayer and talking with my Heavenly Father will get me through anything! No, it doesn’t have to be a bunch of words, but just a word, just a cry, just a silent word or two. God has never left His children to walk alone and He NEVER will.
These are things I have tried for years to live by and now that I’m facing the darkest time of my life, I’m searching my heart and trying to draw closer to the Lord and make sure that my family is doing so too. Don’t get me wrong, I’m going into this detour in life with hope, faith, and strength from the Lord, my family and you loving friends, and I plan to beat this with the help of my wonderful team with the Lord at the head. But it brings everything closer to home and more real that I MUST live by these rules to get through.
Being carried by the Lord,
Orilla Crider
1) Love God, love others, love myself.
2) Never leave your partner behind.
3) Get caught doing good; but more importantly, catch others being good.
Hey Cindy Girl! Glad to be able to participate in this homework this week….I’m so far behind I may never catch up! LOL! These are the rules we live by here at our home.
1. Love YHVH (G-d) with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and love your neighbor as yourself. If we could really do this, this world would be a MUCH nicer place to live. This means we are Torah observant…we follow the commands given in the “old testament” to the best of our ability and try to keep our hearts turned to Him Who loves us the most.
2. Keep first things first. That means YHVH (G-d), family, friends, work. Without Papa (my term of endearment/respect for YHVH) the others don’t matter. It’s all about relationships….but keeing Papa first, then family, friends and work. But it also means we do the chores and work before play….kinda like my Grandmother used to tell us: “Eat your vegetables before dessert! It’s better for the digestion.”
3. Hope for the best, prepare for the worst and be grateful for anything in between. In other words, always have a Plan B, be flexible and praise Him in it all. There’s always a blessing in even the worst situations though we may not recognize them for years. Just thank Him that you’re still teachable and can learn from all things.
Those are the rules we use in our home….they allow us to get the things done that need to be done, focus on eternal things even while hanging laundry on the clothesline, and still have plenty of time for fun. Be blessed, Shalom, Joie
1. Ask God to allow me to see others as He sees them.
2. Sometimes it is NOT my problem to try to fix.
3. Ask myself regularly about everything, “When I’m 80, how important will this seem?”.
Pray!
Linda Sprague
Three rules is difficult for me to lay out. I will try though…
1. I can do all things (worthwhile) through Christ who strengthens me. Phil 4:13
Trusting in His strength for each and every step.
2. One step at a time. When things get difficult, I just need to trust God to help me do it one step at a time.
3. Love God, and my family more than myself and do what ever I can to glorify God in all I do.
Thanks ladies for sharing. Can’t wait to spend more time being challenged…
In His Grace,
Jeniver Boyer
I have on right now that I am striving for, and I feel if I can do this then the rest will fall into place.
#1 Rule to live by:
Give God complete control of my life, in EVERY area.
Wendy Woerner