Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Matthew 6:19-21

The Bible talks a lot about not storing up treasures on earth, and it’s easy to see how buying and keeping lots of physical possessions can be a trapping of this world. That’s actually one of my strengths. I declutter our house several times a year. One of my life rules is that I have to know what is in every box we have and why we are keeping it. I do my best to recycle or reuse as much as possible. We fix broken things instead of throwing them away (Correction, Afa fixes broken things.) In general, it helps keep our home tidy, and we can get ready for almost anyone coming over in 10-15 minutes. 

Make it your goal to live a quiet life, minding your own business and working with your hands, just as we instructed you before. Then people who are not believers will respect the way you live, and you will not need to depend on others.

1 Thessalonians 4:11-12

While I am good with keeping our physical possessions to mostly what we need, the one area that I struggle to declutter is my schedule. Here Paul tells the Thessalonian disciples to make it a goal to lead a quiet life. In America, the opposite is often held up as a life goal. In the American economy, our worth is equated with our productivity. God holds us as inherently valuable as His children, no matter what we produce. The first several episodes of the BEMA podcast detail how God communicated this in the early chapters of Genesis. I am certainly a product of American culture, and I feel much more valuable if I have had a “productive” (read: busy) week.

In February 2020, my week looked a little like this: I woke up at 4:30 each day for my quiet time after nursing my two year old several times every night. I left the house around 5:30 to go to work. I got home around 3:30. I had four discipling times each week and several Bible studies. Tuesday evening was for Children’s Ministry planning. Ana Lia had asked about ballet and hula classes, so I was in the process of signing her up for both of those. Afa’s parents had recently moved in, and I had to get them established at new doctors and specialists. I had to find time to spend with the kids, which was unfortunately often just watching TV because I was too tired to do much else. I planned family outings each Saturday, and Sundays we were at church from 8am to 4pm. Ready to start the week again on Monday morning. I functioned in a constant state of exhaustion, and honestly, also a constant state of resentment. I was trying to do everything, but God never intended me to do everything. I brought my American sense of worth into the Kingdom of God, and lo and behold, it wasn’t working out.

The pandemic brought all of that to a screeching halt. We were put on full time work from home on March 13, and the Bay Area went into lockdown on March 16. Not one to concede to rest easily, I attempted to remake my entire schedule virtually. We set up virtual dtimes and Bible studies, I made a dedicated effort to having children’s ministry virtually. I wasn’t commuting, which was AMAZING, but I did not immediately take to heart the lesson in front of me. I was a slow learner, so let me share some of the ways I have learned to declutter my schedule. This will look much different after the world opens again, but this is where my family is today.

1. I had to prioritize.

The myth of a supermom who can “do it all” is precisely that: a myth. One priority that was missing earlier was a daily time set aside for the kids. I needed to block it off and protect it like I would set any other meeting. I had a time set aside for them, but I often scheduled other things during that time. I also needed to ask my husband for help with doctors appointments. At the time, there were 3-4 a week, and it was straining all my resources to make them happen. I had to decide, and get advice about, the efforts I was making to do Children’s Ministry virtually. They were not going well, and this was an opportunity for all our parents to become Bible teachers for their children instead of relying on others to do it. 

For discipling times, I figured out how to combine some of them into discipling groups so that we were working together instead of these times dominating my schedule. For Bible studies, I couldn’t be in all of them. I had to get better at giving instructions to women who would be able to lead them instead of me. Family outings on Saturdays were canceled, which ended up being great. I learned to spend time with the kids at home. We also became close friends with all our neighbors. Sundays became much shorter, and I night weaned the toddler – which was life changing for the better all on its own.

Everything slowed down. The expectations of discipleship were the same, but my life looked very different. It was through prayer and advice that I figured out what were the biggest priorities and what could be culled. I would never wish this pandemic on anyone, but I have learned some important priority lessons while being confined to my house for eight months.

2. I had to get control of my social media habits.

The other drain on so much of my time and attention was social media, especially after the lockdown. I wanted to be in touch with people. I wanted to know what was going on. I needed information from anywhere about anything. And it became picking my phone up every few minutes and mindless scrolling.

For me, the thing that helped the most was turning off all the push notifications. I believe that social media can be a powerful tool to stay connected and reach people, but it can easily dominate our lives. For me, every time my phone buzzed, I was interrupted from the rest of my day to check it. Turning off the notifications and setting aside two times each day to open the apps helped me contain it to a reasonable amount of time.

3. I had to ask for help.

This one is much harder during the pandemic. Normally, I have lots of friends who would be more than willing to come hang out with the kids and hang out with me if I’m having a hard day. I had to say no to most offers to help because my father-in-law is in all the high risk categories for Covid, and we couldn’t let lots of people come into the house. We had to get creative with the people in our household to figure out how to maximize the time we had. I scheduled doctors appointments first thing in the morning so Afa could take his parents before work. We worked on a schedule for household chores so that laundry had its own day, and other chores were spread among the adults. I asked my mother-in-law to watch the kids a few times a week so I could shower alone. I taught the kids to do as much as they could for themselves (This in and of itself is a mountain to climb, but so worth it in the end.) There are a variety of snacks and drinks Ana Lia and Eliam can get for themselves now. Again, there is no such thing as a  mom who can do it all. I had to figure out how to be a force multiplier of all the people in my household.

4. I had to take care of my body.

In the back of my mind, I knew this one was important, but I didn’t realize how important it was until I started doing it. Pre-pandemic, I worked in an office with free food. So I ate whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted. I continued to do that working from home. I put no limits on my food, and I ate until I felt better every day. A friend gave me a book that helped me recognize my gluttony and repent. I also started running. When I was treating my body more kindly, I wasn’t as tired. I physically felt so much better and so much stronger. I could play with the kids instead of watching them play. I could wake up in the mornings without dragging myself out of bed. 

Much like decluttering a house, decluttering a schedule can be a process. Working through things one at a time, deciding if it needs to stay or go or be packed away in a more effective method. I’m grateful for my husband and my dear friends who are around to support me. I could never have figured all of this out without them.