31 Days Project // Day 3 // Making time for Devotionals

Welcome to 31 Days to an Organized Life & Business! For the month of October I will be a participant in The Nester’s 31 days Writing Challenge. Taking some of my own advice and taking you along on my journey to a life reset. I’ll be sharing (and practicing) some tips on everything from bookkeeping, shopping, managing kids, intentional parenting, work from home mom syndrome, work/life balance, spiritual reset and more. Not because I am the expert in these fields, but because they have worked for me in the past, and I so badly need them to work again for me now.

When I say I need this reset I’m not even kidding. When I say I’ll be writing about it, I don’t mean, I’m going to talk about past advice or something that worked once for me 3 years ago. I mean I’m going to hit publish on this blog post, and then go and do what I am writing about today.  That is all I can commit to for today. Which means, if you can relate to any of this, I invite you along on this 31 day journey. Watch me triumph or fail, but I’ll be here daily to give you updates. I’d love if you joined me, and keep me posted on your progress as well. There’s hope and support in community here. 

If you missed Day 1, or would like to catch up on any other day, click the link on the right hand side or right here.

Be sure to also follow along on Instagram as I post updates throughout the day. #31daystoreset @Angelsea Urban

Thanks for visiting!

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

WELCOME TO DAY 3: Making time For Devotionals

But first, an update on yesterday…

If you are wondering if I am working off of a predetermined list of topics, the answer is no. Because clearly, needing a life reset, I am not organized enough to do that yet. Going into this project, I shuddered at the thought of not being prepared, but I am beginning to understand that sometime working organically, in real time, has it’s advantages.

A prime example being yesterday’s task of revisiting our Family Mission Statement.

Yesterday was my husband’s birthday. He was at work all day and had rehearsal right after so I knew he’d not only be late for dinner, but our chance to sit down, as a family, to discuss our family mission statement was not ideal, especially considering there was birthday festivities to be had. (As a parent, with a birthday on a weekday, it means a 17 minute birthday acknowledgement after dinner, opening handmade cards and blowing out a candle. Ok, maybe not that quick but it feels like it sometimes. It’s ok – we have plans for the weekend.)

So – the only chance I had was to talk to the kids, was in the car, on the way to the store to get the birthday cake. Which means it had to be quick, intentional and focused. It went something like this:

Me: “Hey guys, can we talk about our family mission statement for a minute? Can either one of you remember it offhand and tell me?”

Harmony (10 years old): (at a million miles a minute….”the Urban family strives to have a Christ centered home that raises disciple makers, spending quality time serving as a family, and always practicing worship with compassion, joy, and humbleness; seeking to remove bickering, bad priorities and short temperedness through love, honor, respect and integrity.……) and continues verbatim.

Me: “Do either of you remember what it truly means”?

Greyson (6 years old): “It means we need to be perfect.”

Mommy facepalm. My heart sank, and in an instant I felt like the whole gospel went out the window for my Jesus loving kids.

Thankfully, last night’s Life Group discussion quickly came to mind and I was able to tell them both, “honey, you never need to be perfect. You are already perfect in Christ, who made you new.”

The night before we were discussing Who we are in Christ based on the current sermon series by Pastor Dave Ridder. We talked about the difficultly of Christians to differentiate the comparison of the two sentences:

1. I am saved by Christ, but I am still a sinner.

vs.

2. I was a sinner, but now I am saved by grace through faith in Christ.

I went on to discuss with the kids what we were talking about in our group. How Christians still sin, but we feel convicted by the Holy Spirit to repent and apologize, and in turn, we are thankful that Jesus was able to already pay the price for our sin. That the cycle of this, transforms our spiritual walk throughout our life, and our outward life will reflect this transformation.

 

It was not my intention to be straight up preaching today. But merely to illustrate how quickly my conversation with my kids went from “Writing a Family Mission Statement” turned into this discussion.

Thankfully, this information was fresh in my mind from the night before. But it got me thinking…

What if I didn’t go to our small group last night? What if this kind of conversation didn’t happen in our family regularly? What if I wasn’t in the word? 

How would I have answered them?

How long would my 6 year old son  believe he needs to be perfect to be accepted and loved in his family? By God? 

They can recite these things and feed them back to us, but without it penetrating their hearts they will continue to believe things that are just not true.

Same goes for many adults, including myself at times.

I used to have a wonderful routine of my time in the word. During the school year I would get quiet time first thing in the morning, and so like clockwork I would open up my bible, or a study, and start putting pen to paper and just writing. I used to use the little Our Daily Bread devotional which was a great way to get started. After a while I noticed that God had me on trail after trail and eventually I didn’t even have time to open the Our Daily Bread booklet. I was knee deep in research and cross referencing some topic or situation that God had put on my heart for that day, or week/month. What used to be 20 minutes a day turned into 60-90 minutes until I had to pry myself away to get to work.

On the weekends it was harder. Always running around somewhere or shooting an early wedding, I would actually miss the time I had in the morning. Like not getting to spend time with a friend that you had coffee with regularly. Great, in depth, soul filling discussions with, daily.

Eventually weekends turned into a big Monday project that I had to start immediately. And then so did Thursday, and so on. My routine was slipping away.

I was reminded by this conversation with my children how utterly important it is to be in the word. Daily. It’s so easy to let schedules and appointments, projects and just tiredness get in our way of having that daily conversation in the word. Because as someone at our group said,

“How will you live the truth if you don’t know the truth?”

I can attempt to teach my kids all day long and exhaust myself with doing works of what a “good mom” should look like. So that my kids are well behaved citizens of the world, but at the end of the day, my life is my greatest and most powerful testimony. If they see me in the word, and living out that truth, they are more likely to understand by example.

So get in the word. And stay there.

Start with 10 minutes a day. If you don’t know where to start, try the Our Daily Bread App. Or try the book of James. As an avid note taker, I highly recommend writing along with your reading. It doesn’t have to be deep philosophical Q&A, just get pen to paper. Write down the verse you read. Write down a prayer. Write down names of people you are praying FOR. Maybe lyrics to a worship song you like. Just keep the pen moving, and keep your eyes fixed on Jesus.

Today I am reseting my devotional time. I am committing to be at my table at 8:30 am every morning. Maybe you’ll be there too!  If you are, say hello at #31daystoreset @AngelseaUrban on Instagram or let me know what you’ve read. I’d love to hear it!

Thanks for visiting today!

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Be sure to check the blog every day during the Month of October for new content. Or sign up for the VIP Newsletter for important updates.

East Coast Fine Art Lifestyle Family Portrait Photographer Angelsea Urban

Angelsea Urban is a photographer and entrepreneur helping women use their creative gifts to nourish their homes and cultivate their businesses through practical stewardship. Her unique photography work focuses on Redefining the Family Portrait Experience by telling the story of  family through personalized foundations while creating a space to strengthen family bonds throughout the experience. As a certified tax professional and seasoned business consultant, Angelsea has helped the careers of photographers, restaurateurs, musicians and general small business owners through teaching, workshops, coaching, and hands on consulting. Her ministry work focuses on fostering creative gifts in women entrepreneurs to prioritize family and discipleship. She has photographed for families, brides, Bravo TV, NFL Films, and more and has been featured on multiple blogs and magazine print for her work in photography and in business. Angelsea teaches and photographs throughout the United States, and resides with her husband of 17 years, their two children, and their barely 3 pound Yorkie near Long Beach Island, New Jersey.  

To book your session with Angelsea Urban, please visit www.angelseaurban.com

Follow Angelsea Urban on Facebook

Follow Angelsea Urban on Instagram

____________________________________________________________________________________________________