You know the feeling.  You put the kids in bed and look back over your day, only to find that you didn’t get one thing checked off of your to-do list.  You feel like a failure, and wonder at how little you got done.

But did you really get so little done?  Yes, maybe there is the occasional fruitless day.  But more often than not, the simple truth is that what fills our days is not the stuff of to-do lists.

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Routine

Much of what fills our days is routine.  In order to keep the house running and everyone taken care of, we have to fix dinner every night.  We get the kids up every morning.  We fix lunch.  You get the idea.  These things are essential to the smooth running of a household – and to families that feel safe and secure – but we don’t generally add them to “to-do” lists because they’re routine.

Important Ministry

More significantly, though, our days are often filled with the sorts of things that, while important and impactful, cannot be relegated to the category of “tasks.”  When we look back over our days with weary eyes, we may have trouble remembering anything we did – because it isn’t on the list as a reminder!  But if we had made a list, a single day might contain items like this:

• played Scrabble with the kids
• comforted Livia when she fell and skinned her knee
• opened the door for Livia 47 times, so she could feel independent playing outside like a “big girl,” and benefit from the fresh air, sunshine, and the grounding of the earth
• changed 12 diapers, tickling tummies and toes, giggling with the little ones in those precious moments together
• helped Ariel and Sophia learn more about getting along with people (otherwise known as “ran interference for another fight” 😉 )
• cleaned half a gallon of milk off the floor because a child with a servant’s heart but limited coordination wanted to help get lunch
• walked a student through the intricacies of “story” and how history is really The Hero’s Journey

(This is not a specific, actual day at my house, but this is an example day comprised of actual situations that have occurred at my house.)

Not one of these things is likely to make my list.  If this were my day, I would likely look back and have a whole to-do list left un-checked.  But this is the doings of a mama.  These things fill our days, they build our families, and they are not a waste of time!  (I need this reminder often!  Send me back to this post every week or two, okay?)

So don’t get discouraged just because your to-do list remains undone.  Sometimes that means what you did all day was simply too important to be “just tasks.”

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This post is being shared at Modest Mom’s Monday Linkup, Growing Homemakers.