Keeping the Essentials

As we adjust to #3, just like with the other babies, it's been a challenge to figure out how to keep the essentials in life- things like laundry and meal prep and showers- with the new schedule of nursing so often.

One of the advantages of nursing is that I have forced sitting time, so I've gotten to read more than normal. Last week I read Jim Cymbala's book Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire. I've never visited the Brooklyn Tabernacle, and I don't know much about the Cymbalas' theology. But it was a good reminder of the importance of dependence and prayer.

Not long ago, a new mom told me how she doesn't feel the need to have her devotions consistently since she spends her days changing diapers now instead of relating to unbelievers. I remember thinking that when William was a baby. And I remember discovering how wrong I was. And the case is even clearer now that I have two preschoolers I need to parent daily as well.

If there's anything I need to fit into my day right now, it's time with God. More than clean clothes, more than food on the table, more than a shower. This is the one essential. I don't have any great ideas for how to find the time, or how to not fall asleep once I do sit down with my Bible, but I know that that's the most important thing to figure out right now. It's my lifeline.