If I learned one thing early on in my homeschooling journey, it was the importance of prayer. No matter how busy my day was going to be, I knew that I had to begin it with some type of formal prayer if I was going to get through it.
Over the years my prayer routine has changed quite a bit. Depending on what was going on in our lives it might include daily Mass, but I've always found it helpful to spend at least a few minutes of quiet prayer time before I begin my day.
When I was first working my prayer routine out, I tried placing my daily prayer time in various time slots throughout the day but I quickly realized that if I didn't say my prayers first thing in the morning, they were not very likely to get done at all. No matter how good my intentions were, there always seemed to be something that would sidetrack me and I would never make it back to my room to pray.
I've put "Prayer Time" as the first working chapter in my workbook because I believe it is the foundation of all the other chapters. If you do not have a solid prayer life, then implementing changes in all of these other areas is going to be a lot more difficult and hard to figure out. That is also why I've included prayers in each of the chapters. It is so important to try to figure out what God wants you to do with your day that by praying about it first you're more likely to get yourself on the right track.
A few sentences ago I mentioned a "solid prayer life". I'll let you decide exactly what that will look like for you. I've given you a bunch of suggestions in Chapter two, so I think you should be able to pick out the ones that will work best for you in your current circumstances.
There are some important things to keep in mind while working out a prayer plan. First, don't take on too much too soon. You certainly don't want to overwhelm yourself because you will never keep up with it. Also, make sure that you include some variety and some prayers that you can do together as a family. If daily Mass works for you, I'd highly encourage you to include that! Finally, don't forget that circumstances change in our lives so it is important to revamp your prayer plan when necessary.
I hope you will take some time to work on Chapter Two this week and give your prayer life a boost. If you're interested in joining in on this walk through my book, "A Plan for Joy in the Home: A Workbook on Organizing Your Day for Homeschooling Mothers", then just click on the title and it will take you over to the website where you can order your own copy :)
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