Finding Enough Time in The Day

I want to apologize for not posting anything for so long. In the future I hope to post something new at least once a month.
This year has been very busy with schooling the children, having our house for sale, my husband doing to schoolwork online and working at the same time and many other commitments on top of all of this. It's had me thinking alot this week of all of the things we do each day and about all the other things we wish we could fit into our day. What I mean by this is we overload ourselves so much each day and wonder how we could ever fit in more time with God, more time cleaning our homes, playing with our kids, time with our spouses, having time to ourselves, reading a book, planning lessons for school.....I could go on!! How do we ever find enough balance in our lives to do the things we have to do and the things we love to do?
I believe there are many possible answers to this question . The first being we need to stop wasting time doing the things that are not as important and plan better. We need to stop worrying about the future ( Matthew 6:34 ), and we need to listen to where God is directing our priorities for the day. Starting our day off in prayer asking God to place on our hearts who or what is most important for the day is so crucial. If you listen, he will lead you to the important tasks of the day AND allow the time to complete them. Be still and quiet with him each day and he may show you that one of your children needs a little extra attention with a school subject or that dusting the furniture would perk you up just enough to spur you on to do a little more cleaning. It could be calling a friend to say hi or giving your husband the extra attention he so badly needs. We get so busy with "stuff" that we don't even stop to see the needs of others or ourselves.
I think what I need to do is once and a while write down the things that I would like to accomplish and see if God leads me to fit them in my day. I'd like to be more organized so I don't waste so much time doing silly stuff and worrying about where I might be in the future if I don't get done today what I set out to do. I also want to relax and spend time on the lasting things in life, my relationships with God, my husband, children, family, friends and I can't forget myself also!!
I have a good example of a day I had this week where my priorities were all wrong. I woke up the other morning thinking of all of the big things that had to be accomplished before I even got out of bed. I had to clean the house because my husband was having a friend over to watch a show in the evening, I had to go shopping with the kids for groceries, cook a hot dish for a pot luck that I was going to in the evening and somewhere in between pay attention to the kids. Instead of praying about my day I just went all day fretting about it and ended up accomplishing the wrong things.
It was muggy and pouring rain outside, which made the whole house feel damp and yucky, and I had no motivation to clean it. I defiantly didn't feel like lugging my four small children to town to go shopping for much needed food in the pouring rain so instead I wasted a lot of time trying to figure out what I was going to make my family for supper and what to take to the pot luck. The only solution I could think of on MY OWN was finish cleaning the house do lots of laundry, put together what ever I could find in the freezer for the family for supper and skip the pot luck ( that I knew about for weeks but didn't prepare for) and go grocery shopping in the evening so everyone can have breakfast in the morning.
So I finished the day lying in bed thinking I wasted the morning complaining about the weather, didn't start any house work until late in the afternoon and realized that our friend cares enough about our family not to care what our house looks like so I could have done half the work. I did way more laundry then was needed for the day. I could have packed the kids up in the car and taken them in the rain to get the food I needed to make supper(we wouldn't have melted), and I could have been prepared in advance with a meal planned to take to the pot luck before the day of so I could have gone and had the much needed time of fellowship with other women from my church. I would say I should have asked God to place on my heart the priorities for that day!Lesson learned!
I didn't tell this story to dwell on what I could have done but that I realize the importance of recognizing that I don't need to be in control just focused on God and a little more organized!