I facilitate a monthly moms' group where mothers come together to pray, share and encourage each other. The women share their concerns, joys, sorrows and ideas on how to pray with and for their children. At one particular gathering I came to coin a new word; pray...oritize! The theme of the evening was how to prioritize the day in order to deal with the many activities and demands of family life. The consensus among the women was 'to do lists' and 'calendars' did not help to reduce daily anxiety and stress.

Planning your day reduces stress and helps you respond, rather than react to daily situations and surprises. Learning how to prioritize matters of importance will help you focus and reduce the 'what do I do next' thoughts! But, before we begin to prioritize the day we need to 'pray...oritize' it! When we put God first and take the time to pray we are able to set realistic goals for ourselves and our families.

If we pray...oritize our day we allow God to lead us and direct our steps according to His will and plan. For He sees ahead and understand what is best for us and our families. When we pray we grow to trust and love the God who created our day. Prayer nourishes our spirits as food nourishes our bodies. When we rank prayer as the first priority of the day (even if for only 5 minutes) we will not be disappointed. God will provide all that we need to meet the challenges and the peace to accept what we can do and to let go of what we can't.

Daily prayer is as vital to living life well as food is to maintaining a healthy body. Many of us might say, "I have no time to pray" and I would agree that for many this is true. But, we can make choices and we can choose to take time daily for prayer and when you do the whole family benefits. In my own personal experience I have discovered the problem was not enough time in a day, rather it was about my priorities.

You might be surprised how much you can accomplish in a day when you take the time to pray...oritize !