Here are practical ways to love your family well, even when life is busy and overwhelming (especially when life is busy and overwhelming!).
By Mary, Contributing Writer
Life is busy. Different seasons in your life bring different dynamics that you have to learn to manage.
At this point in my life, our children are going into their teen years. It is still very busy and they still need as much of me as their mom (maybe more) than when they were little. We have responsibilities on our farm and I am blessed to be a work-at-home, homeschooling mom. Our plate is full but we are very blessed.
No matter what season we are in, we need to make sure that we are loving our family well. We do the necessary things, but what about the special things that spell love to our family? How will they remember these times? What regrets will you have?
Through the years, I’ve learned a few lessons:
Give Yourself Grace
Life may not be how you want it, but it still goes on. We have been in seasons where things were too busy and I let the stress of our situation overwhelm me. It only made things worse and I found myself robbed of even more precious time with the family.
I had to make a choice to be thankful. And to give myself grace, grace for the season of busyness and to know I was doing the best that I could at this time. Give yourself grace to:
- Eat out or pick up supper when needed
- Use paper plates and other items that make life easier
- Dig laundry out of the basket of clean clothes that you never folded
- Admit that you need some help
- Give up doing some good things that you want to do (I gave up baking bread for awhile and we were fine!)
Simplify
Look at your schedule and see what is most important. What are your priorities for your family? What things can you remove from your schedule to help you?
Make a list of what is going on in your life and see what is a must. Sometimes we get involved in too many things and need to learn to say no. Other times we have no choice about our current situations.
It is always a good idea to try to simplify our lives. Things seem to get better when we do! Busy times make us examine things in more detail so these seasons often become a blessing in disguise for our family.
Have Special Times
…or establish them if you have not done so already. It is amazing how necessary special routines are to loving your family well. Little things like snuggling on the couch, playing games and having special moments with your family are easy to overlook. I sadly found that these are the things that I let slip and I have to be intentional about keeping our special times. Have fun, laugh and enjoy your family.
Take Care of Yourself
I have been through several seasons when I did not take care of myself like I should. I became sick and was not able to care for my family well. Through this I learned some hard, valuable lessons about how important it is to make sure I take care of myself. Moms often put this off, but this is very necessary.
Your family needs you to be healthy. Make it a priority to :
- Drink water
- Get enough sleep
- Rest a little during the day
- Eat healthy
- Take supplements
- Exercise or go for a walk
- Do something relaxing. For me, it’s a warm bath with detox bath salts.
Develop a Servant’s Heart
This is an excellent time to help your children learn to serve and work together. Teach them to work and to help others. Look for ways that they can help around the house and develop a chore system. This will be a valuable lesson for your children to learn that will serve them well as they grow.
Loving my family well is something that is close to my heart. I want to cherish every moment with them! Life can pull us apart, and I have to be intentional to love my family well, especially during certain times. It’s all too easy to let those we love the most get pushed to the back burner.
To help other moms be more intentional, I created a resource full of ways to love our families well.
The Cherished Home: Protecting What’s Important is a work of heart, birthed out of love and desire to love my family well, as well as lessons I have learned during difficult times. It is a book of ideas, tips and resources to help you make every day special…but without all the mommy guilt. You can pick up a copy here!
What are some ways that you try to keep days special and that you try to love your family well?
Mary Clendenin is a wife, homeschool mom and farm girl. She writes at The Encouraging Home where she offers encouragement, resources and tips for home, family and health. Mary has written several ebooks, including Essential Chefs, which is currently free for email subscribers! She loves to educate about healthy living, as well as helping moms work from home.
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