Prioritizing Day-to-Day Life as a Homemaker

It may take a lot of effort, but it’s more than worth it to start figuring out and focusing on priorities.

Setting priorities can seem so difficult.

When you’re stuck in the middle of day-to-day busyness, it’s easy to get distracted by what needs to be done instead of focusing on the bigger picture.

Yet day-to-day busyness won’t slow down. And if you’re not careful, years can slip away with out of whack priorities.

So what’s the solution?

Focusing on your priorities. The trick, though, is figuring out what those priorities are.

As you try to figure out what your priorities are, it might be helpful to get a peek at another homemaker’s priorities.

My top priorities

I’m happy to share what has worked in my own life, but keep in mind … this is coming from a Christ-following wife and mom.

My first priority

And as a believer, my first priority always is the Lord.

Instead of looking at priorities as a hierarchy – as in, because God is my first priority, I should spend the most time of my day focusing on Him – I look at my priorities as a sort of web, or the spokes on the wheel of a bike.

My relationship with the Lord is at the center of everything. Everything from my life – every relationship, every priority – comes out of that.

My second priority

As a wife, my second priority needs to be my husband. It may be tempting to dismiss my husband as an adult who can take care of himself – and he could – but what’s the point of marriage, then?

In Genesis 2:18, after creating Adam, “the Lord God said, ‘It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.”

Women were created with a purpose – to help and complete men.

This truth may not seem so popular today, but wives have the distinct blessing of helping and completing their husbands.

Because of this, it’s important to remember to make an effort and prioritize your husband and your marriage instead of getting completely wrapped up in the stuff of life – jobs, home, kids.

My third priority

As a mother, my children are my third priority, entrusted to me to love, nurture, and raise.

Deuteronomy 6: 5-7 beautifully describes my responsibility as a parent: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.”

As a mother, I need to point my children to the Lord all throughout the day, no matter what we’re doing. In order to do that, I need to spend time with them – so I don’t just see them as I’m running them to this lesson or that practice.

Notice what’s most important?

If you’ll notice, my first three priorities are relational. It’s so important – yet difficult – to remember to prioritize people before things.

Because my top priorities are relationships, I know I need to spend time cultivating those relationships.

This is the hard work.

It’s easy to think I can skate by and let the relationships tend to themselves, but they don’t. Each one needs an investment of time and effort. After my most important relationships, I fit in my other priorities – mainly my job, home, and other relationships – around them.

At the heart of every haven is relationships. Without thriving relationships, the cozy places we call home just are comfy spots.

While it may be hard to remember that people are a greater priority than accomplishing our to-do lists, it’s important to make daily choices that show that. (In 20 years, I won’t regret that I didn’t finish another load of laundry today. But I just might regret not taking the time to sit around and play one game with my 6- and 8-year-old.)

Priorities in everyday life

In a regular week, my time may not reflect my most important priorities – after all, a home won’t just take care of itself. And you won’t get paid for staying home and not working hard at a job.

But giving attention, care and importance to priorities when you do have free time makes all the difference.

In a normal day, that looks like waking up and spending the first minutes of my day in prayer and reading the Bible, instead of checking my phone for social media updates or texts.
It looks like stopping what I’m doing to welcome my husband when he comes home from work to sit down with him to hear about his day.
It looks like arranging my family’s daily schedule to all sit down and have dinner together.
And it looks like taking a half an hour to cuddle, talk, and tuck my children into bed at night.

By intentionally remembering to place relationships first, I’m able to fit in the other essential things of life without necessarily putting such a big importance on what’s not a top priority.

Once my priorities are set and become the priorities of each day, I’m not quite as distracted by what needs to be done, and it’s easier to focus on the bigger picture.

The big question for you is what are your top priorities? Instead of getting distracted by all of the things that need to get done in your daily life, how can you focus on what’s most important in your life?

Once you find the answers to those questions, you can begin to prioritize your day-to-day life … and appreciate the change in your perspective and purpose.

What are you top priorities? How do you focus on them?

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All images courtesy of Pexels.

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Hilary

Hilary Bernstein is a Christ follower, wife, homeschooling mama, and writer who helps women experience God's perfect peace in messy, imperfect life. She's happiest when she's hosting friends and family for dinner, going on date nights with her husband, singing along to the radio, traveling with her family, and spending cozy nights at home. The author of fifteen books,Hilary also is Women's Ministry Director at The Chapel in Green, Ohio.