BUSY, BUSY, BUSY

Busy, Busy

It’s that time of year again I keep hearing everyone talking about how busy they are. How quickly September is “flying” by.
Yes we are all busy, in this race against time aren’t we?

I’d like to pose a question though…..what are we busy doing?

Personally I believe that it is good to be busy, but busy doing what? If we are not busy could we not easily fall into idleness or selfishness?

I want time for me…sound familiar? What is time for “me” Being a mom for almost 11 years, with only 2 children, I am not sure I know what “me” time is.

“Me” time is: writing; prayer time; reading. However, I share what I write and it’s usually spiritual writing; prayer time is time I give to Christ and I usually read books that are formative.

Yes, I am busy, but if you look closely you’ll see that I am busy living my life for Christ. Instead of struggling with busyness, or tying to win the race against time, I have resolved to use the time I have been given to live, work, rest, play all for the love of God.

We’ve all been given the same amount of time each day, 24 hours. If we break down the day and truly look at how much time we need to rest, eat, work we should find that this still leaves us with ample time to fit in prayer, family time; couple time, etc.

At times our priorities get mixed up, and some of us do keep our calendars much more busy than it needs to be. We participate in too many activities, or enroll our children in activities that may not be necessary, reasonable, and affordable or provide any long lasting benefit to their formation in the faith.

I suggest we live a life where we keep our priorities simple: FAITH, FAMILY, FRIENDS.
Then our decisions on what programs to be involved in and what activities to enroll our kids in will be simple.

You could discern by asking yourself simple questions: i.e. Will this program/activity help individuals in our family with faith formation? Will this program/activity enrich our family life or will it encroach on our family and cause undue stress? Does the sacrifice of participating, outweigh the benefit to the individuals in our family? Will this program foster friendships that will assist our family in living out our faith?

Can we ever be involved in too many good things? Possibly. This requires discernment and Spiritual Direction for sure. Some of us may have a natural tendency to take on too much, we may have trouble saying “no” when our plate is just too full.

Just imagine what the Catholic Church would be like though if all families were busy with formative programs/activities.