{"id":8597,"date":"2018-09-21T00:02:47","date_gmt":"2018-09-21T06:02:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.mops.org\/?p=8597"},"modified":"2018-09-21T00:02:47","modified_gmt":"2018-09-21T06:02:47","slug":"new-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.themom.co\/fr\/new-season\/","title":{"rendered":"A New Season to Hold Loosely"},"content":{"rendered":"

I just dropped our three-year-old off at her first day of preschool and have now entered a new season of parenting. One in which I have two mornings a week to myself<\/em>. I have big plans for these five hours. From volunteering to a dedicated time to write to day-dates with my husband, not to mention decluttering and organizing the closets, I know that my plans outnumber the minutes.<\/p>\n

On one hand, I am going to be very protective of my time. One of these mornings will be devoted to writing, something I\u2019ve never had. No groceries, no chores, no distractions. My other morning, I plan to hold with more flexibility. Maybe I\u2019ll have more time to write; maybe this will be the morning I tackle the outgrown clothing crowding the girls\u2019 closets. Maybe my husband and I can walk to the local diner for breakfast.<\/p>\n

After I made my list of goals for this school year, I stepped back and remembered that I have plenty of time to accomplish these preschool hopes. I\u2019m not advocating procrastination but I am trying to stay realistic. Maybe I won\u2019t declutter the playroom until January. That\u2019s OK. I have time! Maybe I\u2019ll get those closets organized by the end of September, which would be awesome. But maybe not. I\u2019m remembering that this time is a gift. I\u2019m looking at these hours and receiving them, not as a commodity to be earned but as a gift to be thankful for.<\/p>\n

Every night as I brush my teeth before bed, I read the Compline prayers from Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals<\/em> by Shane Claiborne and Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove. This part of the prayer especially stuck with me as we enter this new season of parenting:<\/p>\n

\u201cWe cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that. This enables us to do something, and to do it well. It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for the Lord\u2019s grace to do the rest.\u201d<\/p>\n

My list of hopes and goals is long for this exciting new phase of having a quiet house two times each week. Deep down, I know full-well that I won\u2019t accomplish all my goals. I probably won\u2019t become fluent in French or wander the art museum as much as I imagine. I probably will organize our home a bit but it will never be minimalist – that\u2019s just not us. I cannot do everything.<\/p>\n

But it is a beginning and I am recognizing that God has gifted me these hours. Through our family\u2019s circumstance and choices, I am able to embrace these moments that I recognize are a privilege to have. I don\u2019t take this lightly. I want to use my time well, just as I hope I used those preschool years well, when I had no time to myself and everything was squeezed into the margins.<\/p>\n

We are in new territory and I realize this may not last forever. Maybe I\u2019ll continue staying home full-time but maybe I\u2019ll go back to work in a couple years. I\u2019m learning to use these moments well. To not squander time or take it for granted.<\/p>\n

I want to lay a foundation for this next season, whatever it holds. And while I plan and make lists of goals, I am remembering to hold those loosely and to allow opportunities for the Lord\u2019s grace to do the rest.<\/p>\n

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\n

\"\"Annie Rim lives in Colorado where she plays with her two inquisitive daughters, hikes with her husband, and writes about life and faith on her blog:\u00a0<\/span>annierim.com<\/span><\/a><\/span>. She has taught in the classroom, at an art museum, and now in the playroom.\u00a0She\u2019s a contributor at The MOPS Blog, the editor for\u00a0<\/span>The Red Couch Book Club<\/span><\/a>\u00a0at SheLoves Magazine<\/a>, and naptime scribbler.<\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I just dropped our three-year-old off at her first day of preschool and have now entered a new season of parenting. One in which I have two mornings a week to myself. I have big plans for these five hours. From volunteering to a dedicated time to write to day-dates with my husband, not to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":236,"featured_media":8601,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"0","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_seopress_news_disabled":"","_seopress_video_disabled":"","_seopress_video":[],"_seopress_pro_schemas_manual":[],"_seopress_pro_rich_snippets_disable_all":"","_seopress_pro_rich_snippets_disable":[],"_seopress_pro_schemas":[],"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[2094,2095,1523,2096,639,373,2097,146,364,99,1539,55,56,2098,1358,1005,809,362,2099,684,75,1407],"class_list":["post-8597","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","tag-art-museum","tag-french","tag-full-time","tag-gift","tag-god","tag-grace","tag-hours","tag-husband","tag-liberation","tag-lord","tag-minimalist","tag-mom","tag-motherhood","tag-new-season","tag-prayers","tag-preschool","tag-privilege","tag-quiet","tag-stay-home","tag-time","tag-work","tag-write"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themom.co\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8597","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themom.co\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themom.co\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themom.co\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/236"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themom.co\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8597"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.themom.co\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8597\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themom.co\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themom.co\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themom.co\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}