Sometimes the advice comes at the right time.

If according to times and needs you should be obliged to make fresh rules and change current things, do it with prudence and good advice.
-- St Angela Merici

I thought this was extremely fitting with school starting back next week. How many of us have brought the new sheriff into town so that we can tighten up our routine? Bedtime is earlier, waking up is earlier. You are taking steps to get the house more organized. And with that I decided to make fresh rules and change things. You can get too far into a new project and forget the things that are important in your life. All things FLY Lady are wonderful in your home. They make a comfortable home for you to live in, but they take time away from what is precious to you most. Am I giving up FLYing? No.

As I redirect my flight path, I should take the above quote into consideration. In FLYing this week, I have neglected some much needed prayer time. Father Brennan once told me that if motherhood was my vocation, then I am offering up just as many prayers at fulfilling my vocation as I would if I was on my knees for 45 minutes. Did he tell me not to pray? No, but not to worry so much that I didn't have time for that Bible study that I wanted to do. He was saying to be a good mother, you have to be active at mothering...and that act of mothering can become your prayer.

Our housework, when done in a cheerful and graceful heart, is a prayer to God. Cleaning our home and showing pride in ourselves is showing pride in who we are...God's children. It's not about being Martha Stewart or the best mom on the block. It is about taking care of the gift that God gave us.

Sometimes we have to stop everything we are doing and take time out for our children. Sometimes we need to take time out for ourselves. Sometimes we need to do the work, even though we feel as if we are the only one doing it.

As I look around my shiny kitchen and my new Chore Boards (The Board Dudes..available at Target), I think of the tighter rules on the ship. If all these changes are made without prayer, they are for nothing. If I use all my time up to make these new changes and follow these set plans everyday without addressing the needs of parenting, they are for nothing. The prudence part of Saint Angela's quote comes when I am able to balance all these. The best advice comes from The Father.

And so I take a moment before I wake up my children to say OUR FATHER, WHO ARE IN HEAVEN, HALLOWED BE THY NAME....