Where Is The "Me Time" I Used To Have?

As busy homeschooling moms we all need time to recharge ourselves.  We crave the quiet more than anything else and often times wish we could fit in more time with the Lord.  As mothers we often give to the point of empty.  We need time to refuel ourselves.  We may find ourselves asking the question, "Where is the time for me?"

I take time for myself some days and I do feel refreshed, but the instant I get home and realize all the work that has piled up while I was absent, I want to walk right back out the door to find more time for me.  I sometimes feel sorry for myself, "poor me" is the feeling I am left with .  Why do I have to come home to all this work.  Why are these people helpless without me?  And soon enough I am planning my next escape either out the door again, on the computer, or a long distance call to a missed girlfriend.  Feeling guilty over these resentful feelings I started to see my behavior as selfish.  I was convicted to start rethinking "me time".  I did not want to look at time alone as something that was owed to me and I better get it or else the whole ship is going down. 

Knowing that the need to be refreshed is very real I started to rethink ways of getting refreshed.  How could I get the "me time" I needed without the resentful feelings upon re-entry into my demanding life?  My answer was Him.  God can be our refresher.  God can fill in us what is lacking on the outside.  Any time that I "need" to get away should be spent seeking Him.  Anything else we try to fill will fall short every time.  And just as important, any friends we are with during our time away should be women who support our vocations as wives and mothers.
So when you need to get some "me time" this lent ask your self what can you do during that time that will bring you closer to Him who is true refreshment?  Can you make it to an hour or adoration?  Can you get up early one morning and get to mass alone?  Can you ask make a date for you and your husband to go to confession together?  Where can you get some "me time" that will be the refresher that you need?