Scattered Persons

I'm on the second P now in Holly Pierlot's book and she hit on something very interesting that I had to share. She talks about how sin scatters our persons. This "scattering" affects the order we have internally. She has this to say about that:

We feel it every time our emotions cringe in fear and disgust in reaction to something we know is a good, such as cleaning the attic! We experience it every time we want to eat too many sweets, or sleep too late, or when we want to engage in sinful activities. Instead of subordinating our drives and desires to choose objective good, our wills, damaged and weakened, follow along behind the passions. We ten to choose something that will make us "feel" good, but that might be, in reality, very harmful to us. Our reasoning power is damaged also, and so even grasping truth becomes more difficult than God intended. This leaves our wills uninformed, weakening our decision-making capacities. Our hearts, no longer in line with God's will, seek a selfish fulfillment, and our emotions become a powerful force that can now work against our better reason.

Wow! That was a mouthful huh?! But it makes so much sense! I mean how many times have you let your own selfish wants and needs take over your life? I have done it so many times I can't even count. But I can also remember when I let God come into my life and I began making more of a conscious effort to let His rules guide my decisions. It's not easy, that's for sure. But life isn't about taking the easy way out. Jesus didn't take the easy way out. He stood amidst the pain and the suffering for us. And I want to thank Him for that every day of my life by living the way He wants me to live.

Scheduling

As you may know, I'm reading a new book called "A Mother's Rule of Life" by Holly Pierlot. I'm truly enjoying it. She's taking me through a schedule a piece at a time and so I'm really able to prioritize my schedule based on what is most important in my life.

The first part of my journey to make a schedule is making time for prayer. So I went through my day in my head, and have decided to say my Rosary at 6am right after I take a shower and before I even turn on this darn computer!! Then I can turn on the computer and do my devotional. I first thought I would stay off the computer all together in the morning because it can really interfere with my routine with my kids, but I think I really need to read the Scripture for the day in the morning. So I'm going to do that and send out my devotionals, and then turn the computer off and be ready for when my kids get up.

Since I'm going to be cutting down my computer time (I think I may use this as a fasting during Lent), I will not be posting as much as I have been. I feel that making sure I'm praying enough and making sure my hubby, kids, and house are taking care of is so important to a happy family.

So I'm not going to NOT get on here at all, I just won't be posting like crazy!! I feel this is a good thing for me. I can really get lost in the Internet information and before I know it, my house is in shambles. I need to really get some self-discipline going here.

So, there's my progress so far. Will keep you all posted on this!!

New Book!

I finished Mother Angelica, but don't worry, I still have more to post from her. Good stuff. And I started a new book yesterday titled, "A Mother's Rule of Life" by Holly Pierlot. I gave this book to my sister-in-law 2 Christmases ago and she just passed it along to me. It's AWESOME!!

She starts off right away by claiming not to be perfect. She tells of how she was searching for that "Christian Perfection" and was having a hard time finding it. She moves into telling about how she developed a schedule for her home and actually following it and how her home finally became organized and things were getting done. She home schools her kids (she has 5) and she was ready to throw in the towel when God intervened at a Home School Conference where she heard a speech about organization. She tried it and it worked!

The backbone of her schedule lies in what an old priest told her. The Five "Ps" of Married Life:

First P = Prayer
Second P = Person
Third P = Partner
Fourth P = Parent
Fifth P = Provider

So she took this list of priorities and coordinated her schedule around it. She also uses a schedule that the nuns follow to build her schedule around. Certain things take priority over others and this list really helps us to decide what to focus more of our time on.

Isn't that neat? So that's as far as I have gone right now. But it looks like a very valuable resource for ANY mom, working, not working, working from home. We could all use a little organization and time management in our lives according to our Lord, don't you think??

So I'm excited to dig into this book. I have already started implementing some of the things I have been reading. For instance, I kept the computer off today. I still talked on the phone a little, but I also got housework done. I blogged, looked up info online, got the kids up and ready for school, did 4 loads of laundry, the dishes, took a shower, picked up my son at school, took him for a haircut, played with my kids outside, gave them lunch, and a nap! WOOHOO!! I feel so successful! And now I'm on my way outside to take some pictures for my hubby and email them out for him. Then I'm going to pick up a fish after I pick up my daughter. Today will be very productive!!

Anyway, I guess it's about putting things down so you can accomplish what you're supposed to. It's just that sometimes we don't WANT to!! :)