Have you heard of Parkinson’s law? This axiom states that work will expand to fill the time allotted for its completion. I wonder if you have ever experienced this as a parent, because I am experiencing this right now!
Here’s a picture of our morning:
Our oldest three girls are in elementary school and our youngest daughter is in preschool for just a few hours a week. Today is one of those rare days when everyone was planning to be in school for a couple of hours at the same time, so I blocked off the morning to write. As of yesterday, one daughter finished her contagious period for strep throat and I was relieved she would be free to return to school today so that I could write this letter to you. However, another daughter woke up with pink eye, which completely changed our day. I generally follow a rule that I don’t pull out my computer to work when I am in the presence of another person. Mercifully, my serving husband offered to drive our girl to the pharmacy and get her eye drops so that I could have a bit of work time. I have approximately thirty minutes to work on this project that I had originally allotted a couple of hours. I prayed and offered God this time and asked Him to still complete this letter . . . and then a reminder of Parkinson’s law came to me: work will expand to fill the time allotted for its completion!
More important than this law are the living words of God, which wisely state:
We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps. Proverbs 16:9 (NLT)
It’s not bad to plan and purposefully write. In fact there are various verses about prudence that encourage us to act this way (see Proverbs 14:8, Proverbs 14:15, and Proverbs 6:6-11). But the combination of Proverbs 16:9 and the general revelation of Parkinson’s law reminds me whether I have thirty minutes or two hours, God is sovereign and He can help me finish the work, even in a fraction of the originally allotted time. He does the same for you, even if your day is looking much different than you anticipated as well!
Other truths flood my mind: unless the LORD writes this message, I toil in vain (see Psalm 127:1). In John 6:1-15 Jesus demonstrates how He can take our pathetic loaves and fish and with His miraculous power, turn that into enough to feed thousands with basketfuls left over. He also teaches us He is strong in our weakness (2 Corinthians 12: 9-10) and He cares about how we spend our time (Ephesians 5:15-17). He numbers our days and He is aware of our to-do list . . . He also sees who will be sick and knows our time is better spent with the person, rather than focusing on the task. I’m in awe that every moment of my life, and of your life, He knew before we were born and it was even recorded in His book! (Psalm 139:16).
Therefore I can experience peace and thank Him for His plans, which are better than mine, and His power to do so much more than I could ever ask or imagine with my simple letters strung together on my computer. I pray this message meets you where you are today and God chooses to bless you as you read it and beyond.
I love learning and one main way I learn is through reading. As Charlie Tremendous Jones famously stated, “You will be the same person in five years as you are today except for the people you meet and the books you read.”
A book I recently enjoyed is helpful for parents, even if you are not home educating your children. The title is Teaching from Rest by Sarah Mackenzie.
She talks about incorporating the “Three R’s” into each day at home and she zeroes in on writing. Sarah encourages us to guide our children to write every day. Her twist is, don’t make our kids write a book report. Instead, lead them to write something useful like adults do in everyday life: a letter, a grocery list, or an entry in their commonplace journal. In this way, writing is practiced as a life skill.
I love this idea! And to get you started, I’ve listed five statements for your children to fill out that can be used as journal prompts if you want to encourage them to find writing more enjoyable. Otherwise, you could have them fill in the blanks verbally and enjoy the conversation and connection together.
In this way, your child is challenged to remember, think, mentally sort, verbalize, and communicate something internal so that it becomes external and you will grow in knowledge of them and enjoy your growing bond and strengthened connection to them. Previously, I wrote about making the covert overt in marriage (Marriage: Foundational Questions to Promote Connection), and this is a way to implement the same practice with our children. Bonus: they can flip the script and interview you on the same questions!
I hope you enjoy this process of getting to know one another better. Your children will be unexpectedly furthering their education as well. They can continue the practice by coming up with journal or conversation prompts to ask you!
As I mentioned before, God sees who will be sick and knows our time is better spent with the person, rather than focusing on the task. So I’m off to put this into practice and have a conversation with my daughter who is just coming back home with her eye drops now, as I see my husband’s vehicle pulling into the driveway. I can’t wait to learn her answers to these questions and I am excited for you to learn about your kids as well!
Enjoy!
Laura
