Here we are in October already, can you believe that? My initial January resolutions remain elusive goals. Instead, now we have a budgie and we’re getting hens. If you told me that creating a homestead would be something I would wish for come October, I probably would have needed you to explain ‘homestead’. And while I realise that getting hens, planting a Mary Garden and having a budgie is hardly a homestead, it’s a nice thought.

A thought that keeps me going in moments when I look back at my January goals, the to do list I have now and our thoughts for the future. My January goals have changed (or maybe I’ve changed?), the to do list is never ending, and the future is scary. So, the idea of collecting eggs, watering a garden, and talking to a budgie seems like something we were made for.

Chaos has reigned even on the good days this year, and I have found that I needed to be more intentional with my planning.  As Mother Theresa said:

“Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin.”

With this in mind, we created a monthly calendar that can be printed every month. Circle your month, add the dates, plan your meals. But then also schedule your priorities and accept interruptions. Submitting to God’s will means accepting everything he permits. I surrender it all, take care of everything.

With this calendar, and the intentional planning it prompts, I realised how little time I left for prayer. So now, not only do we have a monthly calendar reminding us of all our commitments, we have a monthly calendar reminding us of all the things we failed to commit to.

In an attempt to rectify this, I found that this daily examen is going to become something I try to do every day, and this morning prayer is going to become something I sit with:

Lord Jesus, I give you my hands to do your work. I give you my feet to go your way. I give you my eyes to see as you do. I give you my tongue to speak your words. I give you my mind that you may think in me. I give you my spirit that you may pray in me. Above all, I give you my heart that you may love in me, your Father, and all mankind. I give you my whole self that you may grow in me, so that it is you, Lord Jesus, who live and work and pray in me.

If you’d like to explore this scary world of re-evaluating your commitments, you can download our FREE calendar here.