There is just too much to get done; I can’t find the time! I often feel as if I’m spinning in circles, while trying to keep all my obligations, like juggler’s plates, above my head. I’m too often unsuccessful and everything crashes down around my feet.
Trying to have a positive prayer life in the middle of all that chaos proves difficult as well. I get to the end of the day and realize I haven’t talked much to God, I missed daily Mass, or I never said my Rosary. I used to do these things regularly, but I had been feeling that my busy life was getting in the way.
Recently though, things have changed. Well, maybe my perspective has changed. My body has started to age and betray me. I’m suffering from some hearing loss, an injured rotator (shoulder) and knees that keep slipping out of place. I’ve had to step back a little from writing and from some of the activities that have become painful or difficult. I’ve had to start physical therapy. The hidden blessing was a little less time invested in the usual places and a little found time for other things.
The second and much more important realization came after a homily our priest gave. He told the story of when he was in law school and studying for his bar exam. (Yeah, cool, right? Our priest was a lawyer before he became a priest.) He was a daily Mass attendant and his priest called him to inquire why he had started missing his regular Mass. He explained that he didn’t have time. He was in the middle of an intense month-long review course to prepare him for his bar exam. The wise priest told him that he didn’t have time not to go to Mass.
Father Joe started to go back to daily Mass; he told us, “It was like the loaves and fishes! The more time I gave God, the more time he multiplied and gave back to me.” The old saying, “God cannot be outdone in generosity,” had become real to Father.
Based on his example, my husband and I decided to put our prayer life at the center of everything and see how time worked out for us. We started finding time again for prayer and daily Mass. There are still some days we can’t (due to schedule conflicts) go to Mass, but we have found that we too have time multiplied when we give our day to God first. I guess time wasn’t lost at all, I just needed to look to the time-maker to find it.
Copyright 2018 Mary Lou Rosien
Image Copyright: Jake MacArthur (2004), FreeImages.com, CC0 Public Domain.
This article was originally published at CatholicMom.com and is shared here with permission.
