As a mother of school-aged children I sometimes get a little tired of the random holidays they give our kids throughout the year. Some months I don't think they attend a full week of school because of all the extra time off! However, there are times that these days come right when we need them. As I write this, three very happy girls are downstairs playing Barbies in the "village" they created yesterday. They've been at it since before Daddy and I got up this morning, which is even better. I love it when they get the opportunity to play like this and potentially spend the whole day in their pajamas if the mood strikes.
As much as I love holidays, they can't be the blueprint for how our family functions on a daily basis. I find it interesting that the girls need structure. Anytime we have an extended holiday - Spring Break, Christmas, Summer Break - we have to space our do-nothing days with productive time. They do better when we have some structure followed by some fun. For instance, during Summer Break we often take the morning to clean, then spend the afternoon playing. When they have too many days playing with no chores they become moody, whiny, and short-tempered... and the house gets crazy.
I, too, need that structure in my life. Do-nothing days aren't fun for long when you run out of clean laundry and your kitchen is overtaken with dirty dishes. Life becomes chaotic and things start to fall apart. My spiritual life works pretty much the same way. When I don't perform regular "maintenance" - prayer, Bible reading and study, etc. - my spiritual self suffers. Little bumps in my life's road become huge obstacles and the big things completely do me in. It's a pretty easy fix: even on my do-nothing days I spend some time with God. I might do some Bible reading or work on a writing project, or just spend some quiet time talking to him in prayer. I find that these small things make a huge difference when life picks back up to a normal pace. Give it a try and see if your life changes!
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