What Time Is It?

There are 24 hours in each day. The average adult sleeps 7-8.5 hours per day which brings us down to 15.5 hours remaining in the day. Without the option to work from home, many of us travel to and from work, even dropping off and picking up children from daycare and/or school along the way. Travel varies from person to person but lets just say we each spend a total of 1 hour driving to and from our destinations each day. Depending on our given professions, we work anywhere from 8-12 hours per day. So for the people working 8 hours each day, after sleeping, driving to and from our destinations, and working, there are 6.5 hours of the day remaining.

If you're like me, you spend an hour to an hour and a half at the gym 3-5 days per week and an hour and a half every Sunday at church. Between extra curricular activities (yours and your children), helping with homework, putting to bed, playtime (depending on the child's age), it's difficult to actually calculate the time we spend with and invest into our children. Not to mention the time spent cooking, cleaning, and simply organizing & preparing for each day. And again if you're like me & enrolled in school, attending classes & completing assignments commands a great deal of time as well.

It often seems as if there's never enough time in the day to get everything done. I end up staying awake late at night completing documentation for work, folding laundry, or finishing some miscellaneous task that didn't get done earlier in the day. I always wish there was more time to enjoy my family/friends, more time to volunteer for causes close to my heart & give back to the community, more time to read good books, write poetry, laugh, & relax.

Every 2-3 months, I find myself re-evaluating how I spend my time, what things & people aren't worthy of my time, and who & what deserves more of my time.

My son and I pray together every morning & night but one thing I realize is that I don't give as much time as I should to studying God's word. I used to attend Bible Study regularly, read from a devotional every morning, and spent my nights reading the the Word but lately, I have been shamefully slack. I need to be held accountable in that area because it's just as important if not even more important than everything else that consumes my time.

We only have 24 hours in a day & the truth is that we never know when those days will end. Life is too short to be concerned with people who don't matter or worrying about situations beyond our control. Make the most of your time while you can. Cherish the special times with loved ones, enjoy all that life has to offer, and make sure to spend time with God now if you're praying to spend an eternity with Him later.

Gotta Love the Kids

For the past 11 years, I have worked with children in the mental health field as a Group Home Supervisor, Associate Professional, Qualified Professional, Residential Counselor, Foster Care Coordinator and Case Manager. My work is truly fulfilling but can be very stressful & draining. I love my children as well as the parents and foster parents that I supervise. Ordinarily, I don't cry easy but there have been situations when it comes to my children that have caused me to break down in tears both privately & publically. As embarassing as it may have seemed at the time, I have broken down in tears in treatment team meetings simply unable to contain myself because it is so difficult to work with these children and not become emotionally involved on some human level.

As many of you know, I am currently in graduate school & will receive my Masters of Education hopeful to make a slight career change. Not for any lack of love for what I do but simply because I believe God wants to use me in another capacity to influence the lives of young people.

I haven't shared any of my poetry on this blog yet so I thought I'd share this poem that I wrote years ago for my children. As cliche' as it sounds, the children are indeed our future so please continue to encourage & pray for them.

A Social Worker's Dilemma

every day kids come into our office
wearing sad faces
carrying wounded hearts
fighting hard to hide emotion
not realizing that they're not trapped
but entangled into a web of confusion
hindering the release from the imprisonment of their minds

and then some come
bearing their souls
praying that we'll be the one to rescue them
from this never ending cycle of hopelessness
some believing they don't owe themselves anything
some believeing that we owe them everything

and here we sit
behind wooden desks and bachelor degrees
restricted by "codes of ethics"
worker/client boundaries
and laws written by some person who obviously
has never seen a child's face light up
when they walk into the room

we are made to assign them case numbers
as if they aren't people
and when their 18th birthday arrives
we feed them to the sharks
expecting them to survive in a world unknown
because for years, every important decision has been made for them
almost like saying since they don't "belong" to anyone
they don't have a voice?

we are not allowed to give hugs
or show love
our job is to keep records
make referrals
care but not too much
help but not get too involved

we spend hours reading 3 inch binders detailing their lives
we're given pagers and cell phones to be accessible at all times
because if they need to cry
we should listen
but not comfort
because that's crossing lines

wanting so desperately to give them everything
not out of pity
but because they deserve it
instead, we become bystanders
of preventable train wrecks
then wonder how these kids got off track

I'm not saying that there's something wrong with being a professional
nor do I have a problem doing my job
I'm just saying that these kids have been through enough already

they're longing for the arms of ten thousand mothers to surround them
they're longing to hold the hand of someone they can call daddy
no family to provide support
no friends to turn to
they give us so much hope
and in their eyes, we may be their only hope

I'm not saying there's something wrong with being a professional
nor do I have a problem doing my job
I'm just saying that these kids have been through enough already

I guess I just want to know
at the end of the day
when their file is stored away in some locked cabinet
and we aren't there to give them some sort of assessment
or drive them to school
if not us...

WHO will love these kids?

Itisha Morgan
29 April 2004