Scheduling Time for Prayer

I recently resolved that I need to give my prayer life a "makeover".  My son is over a year old and I have yet get the hang of fitting prayer into my busy mommy lifestyle.  We try to make it to daily mass a couple of times a week and I say (but not always pray) some prayers out of habit, but it is not enough for me.  Here are my first two goals, maybe you can help keep me accountable!


1. Morning Offering

This seemed so much easier to remember when I had control over what time my alarm woke me up.  These days I try to squeeze in as much sleep as possible before my baby wakes me up.  Once he is awake I must immediately tend to his needs and often postpone my morning prayers until...well, naptime or sometimes even bedtime. 

The morning offering is so important however, especially for moms and anyone with a busy schedule.  When we pray the morning offering, we offer everything-- our joys, our sacrifices, our work, our relationships and our actions-- to Jesus.  In essence, our entire day becomes a prayer, offered up to God.  This is such a gift for moms who do not have time to spend kneeling in a chapel, because suddenly the little things like our chores, the sacrifice in our constant exhaustion, and the love that we share with our children becomes a prayer to Jesus.

Here is an example of a morning offering:

 Oh Jesus, through the immaculate heart of Mary, I offer you my prayers, works, joys and sufferings of this day, in union with the Holy sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world, in thanksgiving for your favors, in reparation for my sins and for all the intentions of my relatives and friends and especially for those of our Holy Father.  Amen.

2.  Time Management

I used to consider time management one of my strongest skills.  During high school and college, I spent half of my waking hours in class and the other half training in dance.   Any spare moments in between were used for homework, studying and some socializing.  Most importantly, I knew what I would be doing at any given time, and could more easily plan my prayers accordingly.  Nowadays my schedule goes according to others, and for this reason it is easy for me to feel unproductive and let my prayer life to slip.  For this reason, I have decided to reevaluate my time management because it should help me to accomplish one primary goal:  to do God's will. 

I have found several tricks of the trade that seem to be helping me use my days in the fullest way possible.  The first one is creating detailed to-do lists.  If a project can be broken down, I list each part separately.  This helps me be most productive, because I feel as though I am accomplishing a task along the way.  I use my cell phone to keep track of one "master to-do list" that I add to constantly and check off items as I finish them.

The second tool that is helping me immensely is to set timers.  When I only have a given amount of time (during my son's naps) to accomplish several things, I literally set my kitchen timer and work on one project at a time until time is up.  This helps me to stay focused on my task, move on to the next job on my list, and to avoid running into distractions.  More than anything, it is helping me to prioritize taking time to rest and pray.  My personality does not like to relax until all of my work is done, but this is virtually impossible with little ones because let's face it, the work never ends.  Designating fifteen-minutes of play time or ten-minutes of constructive rest has helped me find a better Martha vs. Mary balance to my life. 



These ideas might not work for everybody, but I feel confident that by my prayer life will benefit from making my morning offering a priority and attempting to more effectively manage my time.  Perhaps as I strengthen my one-on-one time with Jesus, He will guide me in new ways to deepen my relationship with Him.  How about you, do you have any advice/suggestions for scheduling time to pray?