10 Minutes

I saw a commercial once; I think it was for a cereal bar. I don’t remember the specifics including the brand of cereal bar – wait…was it a cereal bar? It was a healthy breakfast product of some sort. (Due to the fact that I can’t remember what product or brand name the commercial was for, I have to conclude that it might have been a BIG FAIL for their marketing campaign. It didn’t work for me anyway). However, I do remember the point and it stuck with me.

It first showed a person eating an unhealthy breakfast product; we will call it a breakfast burrito. Then for lunch they chose pizza and pop. And throughout the rest of the day, candy bars, junk food, more pop, etc, etc. Then it showed the same person starting off the day with their healthy breakfast product. For lunch they chose a salad and water, and they continued to make healthier food choices, fruits, vegetables, etc. throughout the rest of the day. And the ending statement was:

Because one healthy choice will lead to more healthy choices.

The commercial made me stop and think. It is true – and not just in regard to the food I eat. I can apply this also to my attitude and how I spend my time throughout the day. But what is one choice that I could make to potentially change the outcome of my day?

When I think about how my day usually begins, I am a little amazed that some days I actually do overcome my poor attitude. There is never enough time to get completely ready (confession: I frequently dry my hair in the car), the house is a disaster, the clothes I want to wear either aren’t clean or don’t exist in my wardrobe, the kitchen counters are covered with clutter and the sink is filled with dirty dishes, I don’t have anything to bring for lunch, and I’m late. This is how my day typically begins. If only I had 10 minutes alone - to be still and focus - before jumping into the craziness of my day. It sounds so easy, but it isn’t, for me at least. I have this thing I do where I like to make very simple things difficult. This is what it would take for me to have those 10 tiny, itsy bitsy, measly minutes:

• Energy to get out of bed instead of snoozing
• A child that doesn’t wake up when she hears my alarm or me sneaking downstairs
• A dog that stays quiet in my bedroom when I sneak downstairs
• A clean kitchen; which means that I have to clean up after making dinner the night before
• Breakfasts & lunches ready to go, otherwise I would just do that instead of the whole “be still and focus” thing; which means that I also have to do that the night before
• Plenty of time to get everyone ready and out the door so that I can actually relax and focus instead of just thinking about how late I’m going to be for work; which means I need to get up earlier

Could the 10 minutes really be worth all of this?

Last week I took about 10 minutes during my lunch break to read one chapter in a book that we are reading for my women’s bible study (I have only read the first few chapters and I already highly recommend the book if anyone is looking for a light and humorous read). My point is that those 10 minutes changed the rest of my week. And all it took was 10 minutes. This is what I read:

God who knows me and keeps me
Forgive me
Help me get over who I think I am
Help me let go of who I am not
Help me let you be who you are
Don’t ever leave me
Amen

These words have helped me to realize that I need to wake up - literally. I have been a little depressed and developed some really lazy habits. I’m not even going to blame it on the season, how much snow we have, or how dark it is at night. I have flat out been lazy. And I need to snap out of it because this isn’t who God designed me to be. I don’t want to be that mom that is so focused on the fact that she is running late that she backs out of the garage before she puts the door up. Or, while parallel parking she slams on the gas instead of the brake. Everyone knows that a mother’s mistakes while driving will haunt her for the rest of her life! (I know you are laughing because you are now recalling of all the dumb stuff your own mom did while driving). Looking over my list above, if I just did a little cleaning and made lunches at night – maybe that would be enough encouragement to wake up 10 minutes earlier? I’ll give it a try.

Stay tuned for random pictures of what I see in those 10 minutes.