Mondays are so hard...

So, why are Monday so hard for me? I woke up SO TIRED from a busy weekend but a great weekend. So much family time, shopping for a prom dress with my daughter, helping our 2 youngest girls with their history projects, and then the rest of normal "stuff" on top of that! I treasure our family times and I wish we had more!

So maybe that's why I don't really fully appreciate Monday mornings, to put it bluntly...back to routine, rush, rush, rush, lunches, backpacks, schedules, ticking clock, arghh!!!! With our busy weekend, I was out of routine, so I didn't make lunches last night. Big mistake--that makes my mornings so much more rushed!

I'm not a real morning person, as you've maybe guessed. But one of my personal goals is to get up 15 minutes earlier, especially now that it's spring. That would give me time to enjoy my coffee instead of guzzle it as I run out the door. But more importantly, I could actually give my day to God, spend a few precious minutes with Him, and settle my mind and heart on what is really important in this life.

Do I want my girls to remember me as the harried mom who was always frantic in the mornings, and maybe just a little bit crabby? Am I helping them learn some important life skills that they will use one day? Or am I setting a poor example...that is so rhetorical, it's not even funny!

Along with this lifestyle change journey we're all on to lose weight and become more healthy, I am becoming more and more aware of the complex creatures God has made us to be. We can't separate our weight loss struggles from our emotional, mental and spiritual lives. Everything is so interconnected in these phenomenal bodies we have.

God, help me this week to learn to love the BEGINNING of each new day that we call "mornings." Help me to turn to you FIRST before I start all the madness of our schedules. Forgive me for trying to squeeze You into my schedule, and help me realize it's You I need first thing more than anyone or anything else. Make me into that Proverbs 31 woman who makes our home a serene, welcoming, loving environment for my family you have gifted me with. Help me to model Jesus in every word I speak to my children, and zip my lips when I am tempted to be cranky or angry with them. Amen.