Finding Time for God; 10 Ways a Busy Mom Can Build Her Spiritual Life
by Crystal Dupay

Raising children, taking care of a home and a husband can overwhelm us to the point that we begin to sacrifice our most important relationship. 
The one with God.

When we signed up to be mothers, making sacrifices was just an expected part of the job. Our once healthy social lives have been reduced to PTA meetings and soccer games. Our nice cars have been traded for mini-vans, and we would never dream of eating the last cookie in the jar! We have made these sacrifices willingly and lovingly with no regrets. But many times along with the car and the social life, our spiritual life becomes a "before children" luxury. Raising children, taking care of a home and a husband can overwhelm us to the point that we begin to sacrifice our most important relationship. The one with God. We never intend to stop spending time with God, it just sort of happens. We rarely have any time to ourselves, and if we are able to steal a few moments, it is usually filled with such basic things as taking a shower. Below are some innovative ways to be a busy mom and have a maturing spiritual life as well.

  Ask God for help: No, I don’t mean praying for a cleaning lady to show up at your door, although that wouldn’t be such a bad idea! What I mean is asking God to help you find, or rekindle, the desire to spend time in His presence. Praying and reading the Bible can seem hollow if the true desire isn’t there to learn about God, to praise Him, and to adapt your life to His will. Don’t get me wrong, you should still do it even if it doesn’t make you want to stand up and shout. Changing your behavior is the fastest path to changing your feelings. But if we ask God to restore in us that burning desire that only the Holy Spirit can bestow, we will make a greater effort to find the time.

 Set a specific time and place: All right, all right, I know what you’re thinking, "If I had enough time in my schedule and a quiet place to pray, I wouldn’t be reading this article!" What I mean is, maybe on Tuesdays your specific time and place is at the kitchen table while the kids are eating a snack. Then on Wednesday, because your husband works late that night, your specific time and place is in your bedroom after the kids are down. The real point is that you take the time to think about your hectic schedule and work your spiritual time into your lifestyle.

 Give up less important responsibilities: If you can’t seem to find even a spare second to spend time with God, perhaps you are taking on too much responsibility. Do you always find yourself saying "yes" when anyone asks you to help out with a project? Many of us are guilty of that because we think we should be able to do it all, especially if it’s a project at church. If you are feeling overwhelmed and your private time with God is suffering, ask yourself if God is calling you to all the projects that you’ve become involved with. Our ongoing relationship with God must come first, and then everything else will fall into place.

  Keep God’s Word in a prominent place: This has probably been one of the most helpful things that I’ve done for myself. I have copied verses of scripture and I keep them in prominent places in the house. The most prominent place for me is the kitchen window. I seem to spend an inordinate amount of time in front of the kitchen sink and right in front of me is a cross and Galatians 5:22, the fruits of the Spirit. This particular verse is written there because I need to be reminded during the day of the fruits I should be bearing. Joy and longsuffering are difficult fruits to bear when you are home with small children all day. When my mood is definitely not joyful and the longest I can suffer is about 10 seconds, I can go to my refrigerator, not to visit with my good friends Ben and Jerry, but to read the verse that I have posted there. "And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart." Galatians 6:9

 Allow your children to interrupt you: What do you mean "allow," right? My kids interrupt me, allowed or not. This used to be a real crutch for me. I felt that I needed complete silence and time alone to commune with God, so if I couldn’t get it, then I just couldn’t pray. There were times that I tried to pray while my kids were awake and I always ended up yelling at them to be quiet and to stop interrupting me. Then, I remembered a part of my favorite prayer, "In all unexpected occurrences, do not let me forget that all is sent down from Thee." It began to dawn on me that maybe those interruptions were "unexpected occurrences" that could be used to show my children that I find spending time with God important enough to stop during the course of a busy day and pray. That was confirmed the day that my three year old came into the room while I was praying out loud and got down on her knees with her hands together and just listened. Granted, she didn’t listen for long but my hope is that kneeling in prayer was something she would grow accustomed to doing herself.

 Memorize scripture verses: I find it especially helpful to find a verse that relates to what is going on in my life at any given time, write it on an index card and carry it around with me. During the day I pull it out and read it. After about a week (I have memory problems since I gave birth) I have committed it to memory. I have been amazed at the times that those verses have popped into my head, right when I needed them. You also have them at the ready if someone else needs to hear them.

  Use music as a way to praise God: I happen to be a fan of Contemporary Christian music, myself, but any Christian music will do. Many times when I can’t seem to connect with God I put on one of my favorite CD’s and sing along. The music lifts my spirits, and singing praises to God helps me feel as if I am in His presence.

 Find a devotional book to get you started: There are many great devotional books written for women and several specifically for mothers. Scour your Christian bookstore to find one with which you can relate. I’m reading one right now called "Lessons From A Mother’s Heart: Growing As God’s Child" by Pamela J. Kennedy. It’s a wonderful book that relates the day-to-day job of mothering to the eternal job of being a child of God. Many times reading this book is just the break I need and it’s so relevant and interesting that I don’t have to convince myself to pick it up.

 Use times when you are doing mindless daily tasks to speak with God: Blowing my hair dry after a shower, cutting vegetables for dinner, driving in the car pool— O.K. driving shouldn’t be a mindless task but sometimes you just have to tune out those kids! These are just examples of small pockets of time that we can say a prayer for a friend or thank God for the blessings of the day. Just a few minutes here and there can really help in building your spiritual life.

 Do not allow your family to become your God: This is a biggie, especially for us stay-at-home moms. We can become so committed to serving our families that we forget to serve God. We might think, "Well, surely God understands that I just don’t have time to pray, He gave me these children to raise, didn’t He?" That might be our perspective but it wasn’t Jesus’, lest we forget the story of Mary and Martha. When Jesus visited the sisters’ home, Martha was distracted from Jesus by much serving, while her sister Mary sat at the feet of the Lord. Martha asked Jesus, "Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me." Jesus answered her saying, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her." We should ask ourselves daily if we are taking "the good part" or merely being caught up in the distractions of service.

These are but a few ways to help busy moms find the time to cultivate their personal spiritual lives. I’m sure there are many more good ideas that could be added to the list. These tips have helped me and my hope is that they will help another exhausted and busy mother grow in her relationship with God.

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