I want to mill my own flour, grow enough food to can it, read aloud to my children, sew quilts, and have people over for dinner every week. And then there are the things I’m already doing. The children need their school lessons. The bills need to be paid. Everyone needs dinner again tonight.
Every one of those things can be good. Put them all in the same week and I can turn a life I’m grateful for into a list I can never finish.
Christian stewardship in everyday life starts with paying attention to what God has given us to care for in this season. Then we can put simple practices in place to help us care for it, even when our hands are full. That’s the work of Manage, the third of the AMBL Essentials.
What is AMBL Manage?
The AMBL Essentials give us three ways to approach the important areas of our lives. Believe grounds our convictions in Scripture. Cultivate asks what we want to grow and which habits and environments will help. Manage gives us practical ways to steward our time, money, and responsibilities.
Those important areas are your Pillars. Homeschool, finances, homemaking, and church are a few of mine. Yours may include caring for a parent or working outside the home. The first step is to name what you’re responsible for in this season. Then you can decide what needs your attention now and what can keep going with a simple routine.
The Stewardship System is how we apply Manage to a Pillar. The AMBL Planning Method is one application of Manage. It helps us give our commitments, projects, and recurring work a place in the week through a Time Budget, Anchors, Power Hours, the Life Loop, and a Weekly Review.
Choose what needs your attention this season
I can want the smell of fresh bread and the sound of classical music in my kitchen. If that’s something I want to cultivate, eventually I need to make the dough and turn on the music. But I can also decide that this is a season for buying bread and having the energy to sit down and read to my children after lunch.
Try choosing one Pillar and writing down two things.
1. What needs active attention right now? Maybe your homeschool mornings feel scattered or you need to get your finances in order.
2. What needs regular care? Think meals, laundry, paying bills, or a Bible reading practice you already want to keep.
Put the other good ideas somewhere you can revisit them. I keep mine on a Pillar Page or in my seasonal Rule of Life. Writing down “learn to quilt” lets me come back to it when I have room for it.
Related: How Routines Calm the Chaos of Life
Want to see where your priorities fit in a real week? Get the free Time Budget Planner and give your regular commitments a place first.
Give different kinds of work different places
Anchors give important practices a regular place
An Anchor is a practice or commitment you can return to at a familiar time or after something you already do. My Bible and Books routine has a place in my morning. A homeschool Anchor might be gathering at the table after breakfast for the first lesson. Put those commitments in your Time Budget first so you can see how much room you actually have.
Power Hours protect time for focused work
A Power Hour gives a specific piece of work your attention. Decide what you’ll do before you sit down, such as outlining next week’s lessons or setting up a spreadsheet for your bills. A shorter block can work in a full season. Write down the next action so you can pick it up when the block comes around again.
The Life Loop keeps recurring work moving
A Loop gives recurring tasks an order to return to. Write each task on a card, spend about fifteen minutes on the next one, and pick up where you left off the next time you have a window. A homemaking loop might include sorting a pile of papers, wiping shelves in the fridge, and clearing a spot that collects clutter. Keep daily needs like dishes in your usual routine and use the loop for work that can rotate. The Index Card Planner Kickstart Bundle gives you a place to start.
Visit A More Beautiful Life Collective Shop for bible studies, planners, and other resources.
What this looks like with one Pillar
Take finances. If you’re trying to get a handle on your spending, make a weekly money check-in an Anchor. In that time, look over what cleared and what’s due. If you need to set up a new budget, protect a separate Power Hour to list your expenses and decide what each dollar needs to do. Once your budget is running, you can keep returning to that weekly check-in and adjust as your expenses change.
For a worked example, read Budgeting by Buckets or use the free Financial Power Hour worksheets.
Related: Life Proofing Your Habits
Start with one responsibility and review it next week
Choose one thing you keep meaning to do. Does it need a regular place, a block of focused time, or a spot in a rotation? Give it one of those places this week. During your Weekly Review, ask whether it worked with the week you actually had and what you’d change for next week. Write the practice on your Pillar Page if you want to keep it.
If your days include little children and a lot of interruptions, I’ve written more about planning when your hands are full. For the bigger picture, start with Believe, Cultivate, and Manage.
Until next time, keep creating a life you love and cultivating your heart for God.
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