Time is a precious commodity for any mother. And I find myself on the losing end of the battle to find time, make time, and balance time more often than I care to admit.

This year, for the first time in my mommy-hood, I was granted a precious gift: a three hour window of time when when big kids co-op classes align with preschool’s nap. Its amazing. And I look forward to it every week.

In all honesty, it rarely turns out that I actually get my three hours. But whenever I am feeling a little panicky about my schedule or to-do list, I relish the hope of Wednesday.

This week I slotted my Wednesday afternoon for last-minute preparations for a women’s event I am hosting at my home. I am expecting around 20 women to show up and … because I am a crazy person … I decided to hold it in the basement. The basement is the messiest room in my house. It has been ruled unopposed by my children for two years. But it has a big TV and two couches so I figured now was as good a time as any to tackle it.

When I asked my sister if she thought the room needed a little TLC she replied, “Yeah, Sis. Your basement is a little creepy.”

Holding the event downstairs meant a COMPLETE overhaul: fresh paint, organization, purging, and deep cleaning. The makeover has dominated our spare time for the past few weeks. And while things had come along nicely, I wasn’t quite finished with the project. Or anything else for that matter.

But I had Wednesday. So I wasn’t worried.

My Wednesday agenda looked like this:

• Finish up basement organization.
• Clean rest of house
• Finish Laundry
• Organize & convert toy room into guest room for my out of town friend
• Read a chapter of my book for discipleship class
• Make final grocery and supply lists for this weekend
• Send guest list to my friend
• Talk to ER supervisor about adding shifts
• Organize Office
• Hang remaining pictures

I dropped the smalls off at co-op, tucked the preschooler in bed, and rolled up my sleeves.

But my preschooler had his own agenda. It looked like this:

• Get out of bed
• Get out of bed
• Get out of bed
• Get out of bed
• Sneak into sibling’s room and confiscate their favorite Lego creations
• Play with those Legos in mom’s room
• Get caught and put back to bed
• Get out of bed
• Get out of bed
• Get out of bed
• Sit on stairs and giggle

I got nothing done on my agenda. Nothing. Not one thing.

When he skipped towards me for the umpteenth time, waving his “fwavorite” library book, I surrendered.

In that moment I decided to change up my agenda to this:

• Snuggle with this adorably charming boy on couch.
• Play What Letter is This? with the book cover and give him a bonk on the head for each correct guess. (Which never got old – for either of us.)
• Tickle time.

I made it through my revised agenda. And I was glad that I had some uninterrupted time with my baby rather than uninterrupted time with my work.

We can so easily forget these little interruptions are only with us for a season. I am guilty of forgetting. I am guilty of getting frustrated. I am guilty of messing up my priorities.

But then there are moments like today. When I gaze into my child’s sweet face and see the eager anticipation of time with mommy. When my priorities fall like a house of cards. And I get to reap the reward of choosing what matters.

So the day’s work is unfinished. My guests might be staring at toys and dust bunnies. And its ok.

 “Enjoy the little things, for one day, you may look back and realize they were the big things.” – Robert Brault