Episode 74: Organizing the Chaos

Welcome to the first episode of 2026! After taking a few weeks off to regroup from the holidays, we are back and excited to dig into God’s truth with you! Although we are well into January, most of us are still in organization and “fresh start” mode, whether that means reestablishing good rhythms or starting new ones. With that in mind, we invited guest Alicia Kavanaugh on the pod to share some of her organizational best practices with us. As Hickory Creek’s own Bible Study Coordinator, we knew she was the girl for the job. (Let’s just say spreadsheets are her jam!) Tune in this week to hear Lisa and Alicia talk about practical ways we can organize our chaos, while still staying true to the unique ways God has designed each of us (and our families) to operate. 

Links:

Upcoming Women’s Bible Studies https://www.hickorycreekchurch.org/womens-bible-studies

The Gospel Comes with a Housekey

https://www.amazon.com/Gospel-Comes-House-Key-Post-Christian/dp/143355786X

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:05

Hello, and welcome to the First Mellon Ground Podcast. I'm your host, Lisa Banama, and I can't wait to dig into God's truth with you today. Let's get grounded.

SPEAKER_02 0:20

Happy 2026, listeners. We are back. We did take a break after the holidays to regroup, but we are ready to start the second half of season three, and I am so excited. I cannot wait for you to hear what we have planned. And I know we are well into January already, but I think most of us are still kind of in organization and fresh start mode. I know I am, although I'm not nearly on top of things as much as I'd like to be. But at best, I probably would call myself uh a type C personality, which is controlled chaos. Since I've had kids, that's pretty much the best I can do. So I'm not sure if anyone else can relate to that or not. But so to help me and the rest of us kind of get our acts together and maybe to get back on track in the new year, I thought I would invite someone on the podcast who is gifted in this area and has a lot of us, a lot to teach us. And the person I thought of immediately is Hickory Creek's own Alicia Kavanaugh. So I think many of you may already know Alicia. She's a longtime member of Hickory Creek Church, but she's also the newly appointed Bible study coordinator. And that means, what does that mean, Alicia? What does the Bible study coordinator at Hickory Creek Church do?

SPEAKER_03 1:35

Well, I'm still learning, to be honest, but at this point it's a matter of um discerning studies with the other Bible study leaders, um, uh planning when they're going to be, what the schedule is going to look like, who's going to serve in the uh the teaching capacity, uh, who the t table leaders will be, um, who or maybe some co-leaders that could come alongside them. So it's a lot of administrative, organizational type things.

SPEAKER_02 2:01

Right, which is perfect, which is why you're here today. And in fact, I know that um you are gifted in this area because when we were talking one time, I think it was after the workout class, you were sitting over by Laura Kircher, um, the pastor's wife, and we were chatting about Thanksgiving. And I discovered through conversation that you had a spreadsheet to organize your meal prep for the week. Am I right? You're right. Yeah. I knew you were the girl with your little embarrassing. I thought that was amazing and so opposite of uh the way I approach Thanksgiving, that is for sure. So, Alicia, you are a mother of five, and I know that you are also um the uh a leader over at the Bible study fellowship chapter in Orland Park. But can you just tell us a little bit more about yourself, kind of let our listeners know, and even some of the members of our church get to know you, get to know you a little bit better?

SPEAKER_03 2:54

Sure, yeah. So I have been married to Kevin for almost 31 years. Wow, that's incredible. It is. Congratulations. Thank you, thank you. We um met at Illinois Wesleyan University. We met in Dr. Story's Old Testament class. Okay. That's a whole story in and of itself. But um that's where we met. Uh we got married in '95. We have five kids. Our oldest is Caitlin. She's a graduate from Moody Bible Institute, and she is newly married to her husband, Gautham. Uh, then we have a son, Colin. He um he is currently at the um the Ohio State University uh Moritz uh School of Law. So he's getting his law degree. He's in his second year. Wow. Our third child, Cameron, he graduated from Indiana Wesleyan, so different than us. Same same initials, but different school. And he's an assistant band director at a school in the Muncie, Indiana area.

SPEAKER_02 3:54

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 3:55

And then finally we've got two in high school. Coleman's a senior at East and Carson is a sophomore at Lincoln Way East.

SPEAKER_02 4:02

Yeah, we have that in common because I have a senior daughter and a sophomore daughter. So our kiddos are the same age but different schools. We're at the other Lincoln Way. Yes. One of the other Lincoln Ways. So, you know, that's five kids. Five kids is a lot of kids. So I have to ask you, you know, knowing that this organization skill is something that you you have, is that something you've always had, or is that something that was like necessary because you had such a large family?

SPEAKER_03 4:29

In hindsight, I wouldn't have known this in the moment, but in hindsight it's something I've always had. Okay. Yeah, I would say if anything with five kids, I've had to lighten up a little.

SPEAKER_02 4:37

Oh, really? So tell me more about that. What do you mean when you say that? Why'd you have to lighten up?

SPEAKER_03 4:42

Um, there's just certain things that aren't realistic. You have to let go of certain things and be okay with that. Yeah, that is true. Um you know, there's there's gonna be clutter some days. There's gonna be crumbs on the floor, there's, you know, gonna be piles of laundry, maybe wrinkled clothes, you know, just certain things like that that are just gonna happen.

SPEAKER_02 5:01

Yeah, I mean, laundry that you actually have to do like three times because it has sat in the dishwasher for way too long and starts to smell. Exactly. Well, I think that's what I'm so intrigued by because I can I can't even imagine myself with five kids. It just feels like something that's beyond my ability.

SPEAKER_03 5:17

Thankfully they didn't all come at once.

SPEAKER_02 5:19

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 5:20

So what is so the spread is so how old is your oldest? My oldest is 29. So I I it's like we we almost speak of it as two families, like the big kids and the little kids, even though they're all our kids. Um, but there's uh 29, 26, 24, and then 18 and 16. So we had a six-year gap in there of no kids where which and to be honest, we didn't know the Lord was gonna give us more, so the two were a really, really a blessing.

SPEAKER_02 5:45

Oh, what a fun little surprise. You just never know what the Lord has in store. So tell me a little bit more about you know, have your organization strategies. Like when you start the new year, like you personally, do you have anything special that you do to prepare? Like, do you have a new planner? Do you do a vision board? Do you pick like a word of the year? What how do you approach a new year?

SPEAKER_03 6:09

Nothing as glamorous as that, as far as words of year or something. That's just never been my mindset, but it more practically is what I look at. I'm a really practical person. I'm all about systems and efficiency. Okay. And um, so one of the first things I do is I get a calendar. I like to still I like paper and pencil because you're gonna race. I am team paper as well. Yeah. The digital thing didn't work out for me. I needed something fully in front of me where I could open up and see the whole month at a glance. Um, I usually buy that clo probably in October. Oh, because things or maybe even sooner because things start piling up fast for the upcoming year. Um, so I get my calendar. Um uh I reconcile our budget for the previous year, you know, and then create a new budget for the upcoming year. And um because sometimes there's a little more gap in time uh with the breaks of you know, the school break and the Bible study breaks, I might spend some time cleaning out a closet or a pantry. In fact, that pantry is what was cleaned out over this break.

SPEAKER_02 7:15

Okay, gotcha. And so do you have a specific kind of planner that you prefer?

SPEAKER_03 7:20

I like one that um, like I said, where I can see it's about probably like an eight and a half by eleven that I can see the whole month at a time. Okay. That's I mean, I want to see it all, and that that just seems to work really well for me. There were seasons where everyone was color-coded that I got away from that at this point, but okay. That was like when you had to get everybody everywhere all the time.

SPEAKER_02 7:41

Yeah, is that something you would suggest? I'm thinking of like the younger moms, you know, listening. Like, is that something that was really helpful for you with five kids?

SPEAKER_03 7:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 7:50

Especially kids in different seasons. Right. You know, like older kids, younger kids.

SPEAKER_03 7:54

So when my um young two were born, my big three were really they're big enough, they were active and they were in things. Sure. And so uh yeah, it was a struggle sometimes to keep all those schedules clear and um working. Who was gonna drive whom where when? Yeah. So yeah, the color coding did work at that time. I just don't need it as much anymore.

SPEAKER_02 8:16

Yeah, and the color coding is like by kid. Is that how you were doing it? Okay.

SPEAKER_03 8:20

Yeah.

unknown 8:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 8:21

And even Kevin and I had our own colors. Oh, that's I you know, I we do have that. I do do a digital. I love paper, but I have to do the digital because it's how I get my reminders. Like I need like that reminder on my phone sometimes. And so that Jeff can also see it. So okay, so let's talk best practices then. Like you tell me what you do, but if you were to offer, like, you know, if you were in a room full of women and they were asking you to give them, give them, they were asking for some tips, excuse me. Can you share some some best practices for organization as we kind of enter the new year?

SPEAKER_03 8:54

Yeah, well, as uh as far as the new year, um again, like I said, the paper and pencil calendar that works for me. The other thing is I'm a big list person. Okay. And I do not discriminate. That can be pencil and paper or it can be on my phone. I like it, the notes app on the iPhone where you can have the little circles.

SPEAKER_00 9:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 9:12

And then as you've completed it, you fill the circle in, it drops to the bottom. Oh, that's such a sense of satisfaction. So you like to check things off. Um you want to see my list for this week? It's long.

SPEAKER_02 9:21

Sometimes you write things down just so you can check them off.

SPEAKER_03 9:23

Sometimes I do. I will say that. Yeah, totally. Yeah. Um the other thing in my home, we have a huge dry erase board in our uh kind of our hall hallway leading to the kitchen. It's honestly probably like three feet by eight feet. And I every Sunday write down the Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, you know, the whole week with the number, the date number on there. So Monday the 12th, Tuesday, 13th, whatever. Um, and then I write our uh our schedule for that day for that week. So and I try to put do that in time order just so it's easy to follow. But part of my mentality in that is it holds other people accountable to the schedule. It's not just me. It helps with the mental load. I can't keep it all in my brain anymore. And um and that way, um, when someone says, Mom, what's going on? I can say, Well, look at the board. What does the board say? And I will take it takes some training on everyone's part to get used to doing that. But it does help. If they come in and no one's home, they can look at the board and know, oh, that's where mom is. Or um if a schedule changes, then they can write it on the board. Oh, practice changed, oh, my dentist appointment changed, or you know, whatever. That's how I can keep track of things practically every week, and then everyone else can't do that. Just kind of um put some responsibility on the rest of the family. So I would say the other two things I do is I do plan a weekly menu again, usually on Sunday, kind of figure out what's gonna work for the week. I'm an online shopper, so I place my order at Meyer, and that's all about it's not always perfect, I'll tell you that, but it's more efficient. Again, I'm all about efficiency. So um I place my order, then I know I have all my ingredients, and um, that helps. I also have a little chalkboard in my kitchen and I write the menu out usually. Um again, accountability for me.

SPEAKER_00 11:22

Right.

SPEAKER_03 11:22

And then other people, if they know what they're getting for dinner, they can anticipate it rather than coming in hoping for tacos and getting pasta, you know, whatever. I mean it's Tuesday, obviously it's taco day. Exactly. Unless it's not, and then you know. Right. Um, I would say the other practical thing that I do is delegate. I don't have to do it all myself. And so with um whatever has to be done around the house, I don't have a problem assigning tasks to the kids. And they're they're good at doing what they ask what they're asked of. You know, I I would say a general responsibility is harder than me just saying, Hey, would you go do this now?

SPEAKER_02 12:03

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_03 12:03

So that's what works in our house.

SPEAKER_02 12:05

Yeah, like assigning jobs. Yeah, I will say that we did that too when the kid everything ever since the kids were younger, we always had chores. Like Saturday was chore day. It's harder now because Saturdays are practices and work and all of that now that they're older. But assigning those chores when they were even very small was just like set the expectation and they can do it, and maybe not perfectly, you know, maybe they don't dust the way you would dust. But you're right. I think that that is an important rhythm to establish because it's important for them to know they're part of this family, and it takes everyone to make it run.

SPEAKER_03 12:39

And at some point, they're gonna have a house, apartment, or home, or you know, something that they need to manage. Yeah, they need to know the these things have to get done and how to do them. So that helps. I would say as far as regular chores, um, during the school year it's a lot a lot lighter just because practically speaking, they're not home. But during the summer, something I did for years was I I called it their dailies, and it was like their little checklist of jobs every day. And even I would laminate it so they could carry it around with them every day. When they were young enough that they couldn't read, um, it was photo or not photographs, but like clip art pictures of what they had to do. Yeah, that's funny story on that. One of the boys' job was to always make sure the toilet paper roll was full. And one of my friends came over one day and she said, Alicia, you have got a full roll of toilet paper in the garbage. And I said, What do you mean? She's like, and so I went and looked, and sure enough, and I realized he was literally taking off the roll and putting it in the garbage and putting a new one on it right together. He's doing his job. So it was very fresh toilet paper.

SPEAKER_02 13:49

So yeah, sometimes we need to make sure sometimes we have to be a little bit more literal than we think we have to be. Exactly. That's adorable. That's so cute. Yeah, I I like that idea. Like, what a great best practice for the young moms listening. Like, even if they can't read yet, they can you can put little pictures, like little, little clip arts there. That's that's a great idea. And what I really am listening to from you also is just the accountability for you, but also like the relief of the the mental load. Because I feel that I feel that mental load. Like them, I'm carrying it around with me all the time because someone's always asking me and because I don't want to forget. And so we waste a lot of our energy and capacity on that. If we would just get it down on paper, exactly either for ourselves and yeah, for the whole family. I don't know why we we don't do it more. I don't know what you know. Sometimes I just feel like, oh, I don't feel like doing that. But, you know, that's a short-term thought process. In the long term, that just relieves you and frees you up so much if you just take that time to do it. It does.

SPEAKER_03 14:54

It does. Even like uh I learned like before we're traveling, like uh we're gonna fly out, let's say the next morning. I put a pen and paper by my bed, by my bed, uh, so that if any thoughts come to my mind, I can write it down. And then I get it, like once it's written down, I'm fine. I just have to write it down. So again, with our calendar, with our menus, if I write it down, I'm good. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 15:18

In the same place.

SPEAKER_00 15:19

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_02 15:20

Yeah, like have have one like place. Yeah, Allie had suggested that I don't know if it was last season or the first season, like instead of you know at the doing a to-do list at the beginning of the day, doing it at the end of the night to get it out of your brain so that you can fall asleep. And at the time I was like, I love that idea, and then I never did it. So I need to like pile that one in my my my brain here to try to remember it.

SPEAKER_03 15:43

Well, and that helps you plan your next day. Yeah. Like and also maybe what order you need to have all these things you want to do. What's the best order? Right. What needs what's your A priority that has to get done right now? Right. What really can wait till a little later?

SPEAKER_02 15:56

Yeah, do you prioritize your lists? Like do you have like an A list, B list? Do you do it in order like one, two, three, four or a a loose one, two, three, four.

SPEAKER_03 16:05

I mean, again, things come up, but I a loose one, two, three, four just you know, for efficiency. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 16:12

No, these are good things to remember. I mean, it's not none of it is like rocket science, of course, but we do overcomplicate it and we put things off that are actually so simple and so good for us. And I just keep thinking, like, it's for my mental health. This is just such a good idea. The meal prep alone. I remember during COVID, I did the whole chalkboard thing because I was just so sick of everybody asking me what was for dinner. And I was just, you know, we all kind of were on edge at that time that I was really good during COVID. I just wrote it all down, everybody knew. And if they had to complain, they got to complain once and then they had to move on. Yeah. They didn't like what I put on the board. So sorry. And then also the online ordering now, it's so easy with pickup. Because you know, you used to have to subscribe to like Instacart, which is expensive. And also sometimes they do raise the prices. I feel like the individual prices are more than they are in the store. But with like pickup now, like whether it's Target or even Jewel and Aldi, like they you can, it's just, I think it's basically the same. In fact, I have found a lot of coupons just by using that. Um, if they, you know, seven dollars off if you use the drive-up service or whatever. And um, yeah, that is how you don't overspend, right?

SPEAKER_03 17:20

Yeah, no more in impulse items. You might find the Cheetos, you know.

SPEAKER_02 17:23

Yes, and you just get exactly what you want and also not forgetting things because nothing's more annoying than getting home from a store and being like, oh, I forgot the one ingredient that I needed, you know, and then you gotta go back, and that's annoying. So yeah, these are all really, really good things. So what about let let's let's switch gears here a little bit. Let's talk about time with God. Because if we're talking about priorities and and being organized and and being grounded, right? You know, nothing grounds us more actually than than the Lord. So how do you approach that? How do you make sure that that is a priority, that that is one of the things on your to-do list that actually gets done?

SPEAKER_03 17:59

Well, the thing is honestly, it because I'm task-oriented, yeah, sometimes it's hard for me to sit still. I have to very like consciously, I I I'll joke, like, I need to tape myself to the chair sometimes. But at the same time, I don't want my time with the Lord to be a checklist. You know, I don't want it to be just another. So there's kind of like this push and pull. If it's not on my checklist, I want it to be just uh free and and uh genuine. But at the same time, if I'm too free, oh wow, the day gets away can get away from me. So um for me personally, I need accountability. And that's why um like I'm always in a Bible study. Like you mentioned, I've been in BSF um for 10 years, a leadership role for nine years. Um that helps.

SPEAKER_02 18:51

Um and uh because you have like homework that has to get done by a certain day.

SPEAKER_03 18:56

There's an e yeah, exactly. There there's for sure. That's that's the easiest thing. There's homework and there's this especially being in a leadership role. You have to get your homework done. You just can't say this was a bad week. Right. I was a rough week. It has to get done. So that that helps me stay accountable. And speaking of Bible studies, we have some great ones going on right now at church. Yeah, Monday nights, Promise of Heaven, Tuesday morning starting uh January 20th is um Way of Wisdom. Which is actually today that that this is publishing.

SPEAKER_02 19:28

So we'll just say it's not what we're recording, but it's when this will air. So it's perfect. But you can always just join whenever.

SPEAKER_03 19:34

Even if you missed it today, you can join next week, right? Absolutely. And then there's one going on Thursday mornings, um finding God faithful. So we have a lot of opportunities at Hickory Creek for women to get in the word and build build relationships with each other in those moments. And that accountability. Exactly. You know, exactly a win-win-win.

SPEAKER_02 19:53

Yes, yeah, and I like your your reminder that leadership actually does hold you accountable. So I know there's a lot of women that might think they weren't, you know, built to be like a table leader, but maybe this is like a little nudge to, you know, to take that that leap of faith, that take that little step outside your comfort zone to see how God can use that to grow you in your relationship with Him and make you more intentional and maybe a little more disciplined than you have been in the past. Like, and you're obviously serving others because you know, when you're in that role, you also want to make sure you're prepared for the other women at your table. And so there is that other accountability too that you want to make sure you serve them well. So it is a good way to build that into your rhythm. And then I do think it does become a rhythm. Yeah. It be that's like the goal, right? Is to make it a habit that you actually miss it if you don't do it.

SPEAKER_03 20:45

Exactly. So back to the idea of leadership. Um, I just strongly feel if someone approaches you and says, Hey, I feel like uh this is a would be a good role for you, would you pray about it? I think it's really important to trust that the Holy Spirit has put you on their heart for a reason. Don't dismiss it like, oh no, no, no, I can never do that. Um take time to pray about it. And maybe the Lord is calling you into something new. It might be a little scary at first, but again, he equips those he calls. That's right. And like you said, it it can be a really good season of growth and learning um in just a new way. Yeah. Yeah, agreed. Definitely agreed.

SPEAKER_02 21:27

What a good point. Okay, so is there a Bible verse that we can turn to? You know, we always like to include scripture in every podcast. So I'm wondering if there is a Bible verse that, you know, kind of um, I don't know, kind of tells the explains the the values you have values you have around, whether it's organization or even just order. I mean, we do serve a God of order.

unknown 21:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:49

And so I do think that is something that's important to him. We see he, you know, created the world in seven days, and there are, you know, boundaries, right? There's the sea and then there's the sand. There's land and and there's you know he named each animal and so you see that there he is a god of organization and order and in fact if you spend time in the word you see how genius he actually is and how so many things are connecting and symbolic and intentional. So what is a verse that really like helps you I don't like reconcile who you are in the Lord and how he made you and why this is important.

SPEAKER_03 22:25

Well for so many years um I would not have perhaps uh claimed to be an organized person or whatever. I felt like they had some negative connotations with it sometimes. It can mean uh rigidity or um controlling and and hey we can all lean that way sometimes but um at some point I had to accept this is how God created me. Yeah. And so the verse that comes to mind is 1 Corinthians 12 four through six uh there's different kinds of gifts but the same spirit distributes them there are different kinds of service but the same Lord. And there are different kinds of working but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work.

SPEAKER_02 23:12

So how does this speak to you and and what does this say to you and and kind of explain how you can accept how God made you but also how this could maybe encourage someone else.

SPEAKER_03 23:25

You know I think it boils down to um like I said this is this is my tendency. And I think anything can be used I would say to one of my kids make sure you use your powers for good and not for evil. Right. So you know we can go too much or too little with anything and so um but I feel like the Lord's created me this way for a purpose. Right. And I need to fall in line with that purpose. And um you know there's so much something so fun about enjoying what you're doing.

SPEAKER_00 23:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 23:59

Oh boy some people would hate making a Google sheet and here I am making my Google sheets and I'm color coding it and I'm just having a blast. I'm so excited to show somebody um and the the fact that I get to do that in a ministry setting that's so exciting to me. So I would say I in com becoming comfortable with who I am and how God created me and now realizing how I can use this for his glory it's so exciting.

SPEAKER_02 24:31

I think it's beautiful and it's it's it's interesting because I I mean I jokingly called myself type C, right? So a controlled chaos. But it doesn't mean I can't also then grow in a certain area. So I do think it's a balance of like accepting the way God made you using your gifts and talents you know and the opportunities that He presents into you. Like there's no greater someone once told me that your calling is when your passion and your gifting meets opportunity. And you do pray for those you can pray for those ask the Lord to to give those to you and to open your eyes and to open the doors but that doesn't mean there aren't areas we can't work on and try to grow into so although someone might be hearing this and be like well I'm just not organized. But I do think there is something to be said for being intentional and and and learning from others. And so I know that I'm never going to be the person that creates a spreadsheet for Thanksgiving. I could I totally support and cheer you on in that endeavor. But I do think like I could sit down and and really plan my meals out better. So I'm not at the store 10 times in a week like it's just that's just smart. You know that's not oh I'm just not built that way. That's like no I could save money and save gas and save time and save mental energy and there's so much to be said for me learning from you and and implementing maybe some of your wisdom and practices into my life. And so there's no shame for those that maybe it weren't necessarily it's not easy or doesn't come easy to them but that doesn't give us a free pass to just be like oh well I guess that's just who she is right it's a balance.

SPEAKER_03 26:06

Wouldn't you say oh absolutely and um I can even think back on times in my life when uh finding that balance was hard. Yeah. I mean probably 20 years ago is when I started keeping a budget and I remember being in a in IKEA with a friend and I had hangers in my hand and I'm like what cat for what category does this go under? I mean I was about to have a nervous breakdown over where to put cat you know what category to put the hangers in. Um and that's a silly example but just reality I had to uh um find that balance. Yeah. And like for in that it's like it goes in the miscellaneous category. It's okay you know and be okay with that and um with schedules and such um I I need to make margin. I need to allow for margin. Do you remember um a few years ago we did a summer book study. I think it was called Gospel Comes with a house key. You know I actually wasn't at her yet but Allie has talked about that book a lot. Well she talked about margin a lot. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 27:09

And um so explain what you mean when you say that okay in case someone's not familiar with that phrase.

SPEAKER_03 27:14

Well I guess for me personally it's just allowing time. We are in such a busy world we are running and gunning all the time. And um and to some extent like that's the expectation of the world like what do you mean you have free time you know so um but let's say I need to run to the store and I think it's gonna probably take me I don't know 45 minutes all told. If I allow an a f an hour in my mind it's okay. I can talk if I if I run to somebody in a someone in the aisle I can talk for a little bit. You know and I you know I think we've all had moments where we really just don't we are in such a tight schedule we don't have time to chit chat but um there's just such a piece having that flexibility it's not it's not dawdling. It's just allowing a little an opportunity a window of opportunity rather for the Holy Spirit moments that he might provide. Yes. Um again whether it's running into someone you know or maybe there's someone that he needs an older person that needs help putting their cart back in the corral or whatever it might be. Just how allowing a little margin there.

SPEAKER_02 28:24

Yeah definitely leaving room for the spirit yeah those divine appointments that the Lord has for us in a day. And I can remember one time being in the car I was we had you know little kids at the time and I was just running like you said running and gunning I love that and I was so stressed out and we were running late which is often the case and still is often the case in my life but I remember just being like I was like rushing and I was upset and I was in the car and I could feel and all of a sudden it was like okay like we're already gonna be late and I just like took a deep breath and I just like actually like felt the weight of time and reality like on my body and was like it is what it is. And so I just and then it nothing changed but I changed. Attitude yeah my attitude about it changed. I just like gave just accepted the moment and I was like okay this is what it is and I'll try to do better next time but if I stayed so caught up and so like in that stress zone and go go go go go go go that I just I would have ended up yelling at my kids or being annoyed and short tempered and you know all the things that come out of being in that space in your brain.

SPEAKER_03 29:32

And absolutely there's this that pendulum can swing either way and I again I've been in both seasons. Yeah you know um you know I just think back to one time in my life you know when you're talking about young kids um when one of my kids was born he uh he didn't want to eat he wanted to sleep all the time and so as a mom I had to constantly feed him and I had very small windows of time in my day. I literally all I did was feed him all day long. And I might get 20 minutes like feeding for two hours then 20 minutes and roughly one day I was just feeling so incredibly overwhelmed and out of control of my whole life I decided to organize a spice cabinet. I mean it sounds silly but I emptied everything out of the spice cabinet I wiped it down in my 20 minutes windows I put everything back in. I even think I alphabetized the spices but it gave me such a sense of peace like it was like the Lord just saying hey this is okay this is a season this isn't gonna last forever and just that little reminder it's gonna be okay so I I just sat there with my my cabinet open all day just looked at the order in it and it gave me such a sense of peace and uh like I said I just felt like that was the Lord allowing me that little window to say it's gonna be okay.

SPEAKER_02 30:57

Yeah. Yeah I I love those little for me like it's like making your bed right like if I just walk in the room and the bed is made somehow life feels a little bit more manageable. Just a little something. I have been known to make my bed at 8 p.m at night because it just helps me feel like this at least this got done. Like I know I've done a million things today but nothing went the way it was supposed to and at least this got done. So there's definitely something to be said for just taking a moment and just getting something in order.

SPEAKER_03 31:26

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 31:27

But also you know trusting the Lord that it it'll all get done. It all does get done in the end. And if it doesn't it it probably isn't that important you know like it is it's it's giving yourself that grace trusting in the Lord and what he can do and then it doesn't all just depend on us and our schedule and our agendas right it's finding finding that balance. Okay so I mean I feel like we could go on and on and there's so much we could talk about but we are running out of time so I am going to move us into our live it out and you know I think I want to encourage listeners to just not feel overwhelmed right now because I think you offered a lot of good ideas and I think we all could probably go through and just like go through our whole lives and figure out all these things that we could do to make it more organized. So I think the challenge would be just to pick one thing just like one thing maybe would be a better approach than to try to like implement all these new systems. And so for me the thing that feels really like manageable and practical is the meal planning. And sometimes I do do it I just don't regularly do it. Yeah but the weeks that I do go so much better and um it really does free up some space in my brain. Yeah because you don't have to you know go to the store you don't have to think about ingredients you don't think about what's for dinner you know I can prepare for all of the things so I'm gonna commit to for the next month I'm going to meal plan and prep on Sundays um or Mondays. I guess I'll give myself some margin there Sunday or Monday so that I hopefully it can become a habit. Like that is what I would really like to see is that this just becomes a regular regular rhythm for me. But I know I have to start small and try to build that into my week. So that's my live it out. So what's yours?

SPEAKER_03 33:16

I mean you're already organized so maybe probably nothing honestly well I would say again because my tendency is structure um more margin.

SPEAKER_02 33:25

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 33:25

Right now as I am in my BSF role and uh serving as a Bible study coordinator at church, I have long lists of things to do and sometimes the margin is what gets left out. So I'm gonna make more margin.

SPEAKER_02 33:40

Yeah. I can imagine that someone with your tendencies and I mean it in a positive way by the way would might be a little frustrated when things don't go according to your list or agenda. Sure. So I'm sure that that is as much as it's my challenge to try to get my life together it's probably a challenge for you to reconcile the moments that don't go the way that you had intended so that makes sense. It is okay so I'm gonna be Dr. J and I'm gonna make you quantify this. So how does how are you gonna do that? Like how are you going to allow for more margin? What does that mean in a in a week for you and in a hmm that's a turt question.

SPEAKER_03 34:23

Hmm maybe uh maybe what I this isn't margin this is scheduling is what I'm scheduling in.

SPEAKER_02 34:31

Scheduling margin I love it maybe be more intentional uh about allowing for um just uh uh spontaneous moments to again have coffee with someone or um at church on Wednesdays um not have uh a to-do list or maybe allow time beyond the to-do list so like scheduling in like a free half an hour this is so funny because what we're saying is recession but I'm scheduling it I know hey you know what we got you're using you're leaning into we're going back to our verse you're leaning into the way the Lord made you and trying to grow and so I think you're doing both. It's a great balance of like you know you're scheduling recess for yourself I feel like to like let the Lord do something that you weren't planning on that day. You know whether that is just sitting and just enjoying time with people at church or um I don't know taking a walk. Yeah. Although this weather doesn't exactly welcome that all the time.

SPEAKER_03 35:32

Yeah. So as far as quantifiable I would say at least once a week allow for an opportunity. Okay. That I had not planned for. Okay. I love it.

SPEAKER_02 35:41

All right. Would you mind praying us out, Alicia? Thank you for coming. I really appreciate you sharing your your wisdom with us.

SPEAKER_03 35:48

You're welcome yeah sure. Uh Heavenly Father thank you so much for this time today that we could just sit and uh talk and about real life real schedules real uh balancing our time and our families and our time and our your word with you Lord and uh you are a God of order. I just ask that you would order all our steps Lord I mean your word says we plan our course but you establish our steps Lord I pray we would lead into that we would trust you in that you would guide us and whether we're we we're type A or type C, Lord, it would be for your glory and you would um we would feel your presence in it all. We lift it all up in Jesus' name Amen.

SPEAKER_02 36:32

Amen Okay listeners let's let the Lord order our steps this month He alone is our salad