How to Schedule: Part 2

Have you ever bough a brand new, beautiful day-planner with every intention of being the most organized person in the whole world?! I always feel like brilliant levels of organization are right around the corner when I purchase a new day-planner. Yet, as has been the case many times, the first few weeks get filled in with plans and schedules and activities and then when I still feel unorganized and chaotic, I set the day-planner aside and just wing it.

Planning the day can be frustrating when we don't know the why or the how. So today we're going to look at the very basics to laying out a schedule in a helpful and Biblical way.

This week and next, we'll be looking at Proverbs 16:1-9. Because planning our day is really a two step process that doesn't work if we only do the planning. Committing our plans to the Lord is the key to using our day-planners successfully.

Let's start by reading these verses in Proverbs.

Proverbs 16:1

The plans of the heart belong to man,

but the answer of the tongue is from the Lord.

2

All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes,

but the Lord weighs the spirit.

3

Commit your work to the Lord,

and your plans will be established.

4

The Lord has made everything for its purpose,

even the wicked for the day of trouble.

5

Everyone who is arrogant in heart is an abomination to the Lord;

be assured, he will not go unpunished.

6

By steadfast love and faithfulness iniquity is atoned for,

and by the fear of the Lord one turns away from evil.

7

When a man's ways please the Lord,

he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.

8

Better is a little with righteousness

than great revenues with injustice.

9

The heart of man plans his way,

but the Lord establishes his steps.

I underlined the parts of the passage that talk about planning or the plans that we make. And we're going to focus in on that today, and then next Monday, we'll talk about how God works to bring about His plans in our plans.

Proverbs 16 demonstrates such a beautiful balance in the relationship between planning and submitting. And it's a balance that is worth working to find. If we plan without submitting, then our planning is vain because it is not established. It is fickle and pointless. If we submit to the Lord, but do not plan our days, then we find that while our heart desired to obey, our lack of planning left us with no practical way to accomplish what He has called us to.

Planning our days well is a vital part of the ministry of homemaking. Many of the tasks we take care of as women require continual care and oversight. As we nurture growth in those around us and tend to the needs of those we are loving and serving, we can see that planning our days well is so necessary to be able to accomplish the day-to-day with Biblical stewardship.

Now that we can see the necessity of planning, let's talk about why we plan in the first place?

1. Planning our day demonstrates where our hearts are focused. By putting our plan for the day/week onto paper, we can easily see where our hearts are focused. It's easy to see what I am prioritizing, how much I am idolizing busyness or free time, where I am wasting time, etc. . . It's important to plan our days because we get a quick glimpse at where our time is going.

2. Planning our day clarifies the balance between God's sovereignty and our work. God is in control all the time in every way. So why do we need to plan? We will talk more about the balance of this next week, but our commitment to planning our days demonstrates that we take responsibility for doing the work that God has called us too. God does not need us to accomplish His plan, yet he graciously equips and allows us to walk in the good works He has chosen for us. Planning acknowledges that time is a gift from God and needs to be stewarded well and with intention.

3. Planning our day gives us the ability to freely say yes to the things that are important. Not having a plan can leave us stressed and frazzled because we don't know what we can and cannot say yes to. We worry that we will forget an important assignment or responsibility. And we are afraid of putting to many things on the calendar and feeling overwhelmed. Planning our days leaves us with the freedom to say, "Yes, I am free to do that." Or, "Yes, I have the time I need to do this task well."

Then, how do we plan our days? Well, there are many great tools and resources available for day-planning. Some people prefer to-do list style plans while others prefer block-scheduling. Some people prefer digital calendars while others prefer pencil and paper. I'll share a few resources below that have been helpful to me, but once you have your day-planning system ready to go, here's how we can create a plan for the day that we can humbly submit to the Lord as we prepare to accomplish His calling for our day.

Put the important things on your calendar first.

• Time in God's Word - Write it on the calendar for every day.

• Church

These two times on your calendar should be virtually immovable. Maybe an early morning appointment will cause you to shuffle your time with God to your lunch break, or maybe an out-of-town vacation will mean you miss church once or twice a year. But these should not be items that you move with great consideration and discernment.

Add commitments that have specifically scheduled times.

• Work

• School

• Homeschool Lessons

• Small group/Community Group

• Kid's practices or extracurricular activities

These blocks of time need to be added even though they seem repetitive or unforgettable. When you commit your plan to the Lord, your plan needs to consist of every part of your day. Make sure your routine commitments are updated in your calendar at least one month out. (Recurring appointments on a digital calendar are your friend.)

Add in your other daily or weekly responsibilities that are not already scheduled.

• Cleaning

• Laundry

• Exercise

• Grading/Lesson planning

• Meal planning

• Grocery shopping

Homemaking ministry requires allocating time for the seemingly mundane tasks so that we can give our full attention to each task and responsibility as it comes.

Plan time for the things that matter.

• Time with your spouse

• Time with your children

• Time for discipleship

• Time for serving

• Time for intentional rest

After laying in the scheduled things, you can begin to see the pockets of time you have left. Determine how you want to use those pockets of time. Just because you don't have a specific thing planned, doesn't mean that you can't put in on your calendar. Plan out blocks of time for the important things that will allow you to develop routines and rhythms that allow availability for the things you value.

Now, remember that this is just the first step to planning our day. So, we will hold on to these plans very loosely. It is not our desire to idolize or become a slave to our schedule. The schedule is a wonderful tool in our homemaking ministry. But as we will talk about next week, it is the Lord that makes our schedule meaningful.

Resources:

Google Calendar

Cozi App

Customizable Plum Paper Planners (Great resource for homeschool planning also)

Goal-oriented Planner

Academic Year Day Planner

Block Schedule Planner

Student Planner (Great for kids learning to plan)