It seems, at least for me, that it is difficult to live well when I am consistently rushed. It is when I am in a hurry that I forget to pray, forget to notice things that need to be noticed, and generally neglect to keep the priorities that I normally would. I need in my schedule breathing room, thinking room, praying room, and plenty of room to love those around me. The schedule can become a false god.
15 comments:
Oh! Is this ever so true!
I now have a ritual...rather silly or not, I get up make the coffee and walk straight to the corner of my sofa. There by my little small side table are my devotional books. I have about three with a daily reading...some really short. I have a prayer card or two and I offer prayers for everyone as soon as I can. If I do not, something always gets in the way. This should not be...I lived that way long enough and I hear many others have done the same. It only takes just a little while and often times I enjoy adding more prayers here and there throughout my day that I also feel a need to do and this also makes my day better for having little guilt that I normally would have, had I not spent time with the Lord, my Mother and the others in Heaven. Thanks for your post.
Oh how your post echoes precisely my own thoughts!
I'm particularly impressed with Suzanne's discipline and I'm glad that she shared this with us.
Maybe we can both learn a thing or two from our blog buddy :-)
Suzanne, thanks for sharing how you make prayer a priority. I know I can certainly improve in that area!
And Rosemary--how I know how the schedule can be a tyrant. It is something I need to take to prayer and work out a better way.
In all honesty, ladies, I didn't do this for a long time. It all started when I was doing morning prayers before we started our classes. I fell in love with about three little books and noticed that I felt a sense of peace and strength that I had not felt before and it seemed to stick with me, so I began reading them before with my coffee. One is the Saint for the Day, one is a very short book by Matthew Kelly called Mustard Seeds, and another is a daily reading by Pope John Paul II. There have been times when I added the daily Mass readings to this, esp. with the kids, so even though they didn't get to daily Mass, they knew at least the readings. They were very respectful during those reading times. School is out now and you can tell the difference...remember my probs with Shane recently? Yep.
I'm telling ya.............prayer.
Period.
This was certainly a relevant post for me today. Thankyou!
Rosemary, this is so true. Some time back I started the practice of saying the Rosary upon waking, kind of like putting on my armor for the day if you KWIM! There are days that I hit the floor running but I try to make this my daily practice, also have you heard of the practice of the Three Hail Mary's? I discovered this recently and I printed it out and put it on all the bathroom mirrors for the month of May. This gives a reminder to all in the family. I am going to change it since it is june, haven't decided what I'll put up.
God bless, Judy
3 Hail Mary's: http://www.catholictradition.org/Mary/three.htm
Oh! I love Saint Maker's idea of hanging up a different prayer for each month in the bathrooms! I'll do that too...a short on that by the time they look up and see it, they've already said it...like short ejaculations...Jesus, Have mercy on me a poor sinner....or Jesus, Mary, Joseph, pray for us...things like that too, esp. for my boy...he's in there and out so quick sometimes!
Hey...it sure can't hurt, can it?
Good idea!
Thanks for all the great ideas. Yup, Suzanne, me too. If I don't get some prayer done in the morning the day gets a hold of me. And when I DO pray in the morning I'm more apt to remember to do it throught out the day. I think a routine like yours is really the answer to making sure it happens.
Saint Maker, i often say the rosary before I get out of be too. Sometimes thought it puts me back to sleep which is OK too if it's early enough. I completely agree with you about how wonderful that is.
Let's face it. These are tough times we live in. We have to pray as much as we possibly can-- and make it a greater priority than everything else. At least SOME prayer.
Thanks for all the great comments.
I echo the brilliance of putting a prayer in the bathroom -- it brings to mind my own home when I was little. We had a prayer to the Sacred Heart of Jesus on our family bathroom mirror. My mom's intention was that each of us would pray it while we brushed our teeth.
I think I'll make a similar prayer card and tape it to my bathroom mirror today!
'thann
http://ruthannzaroff.typepad.com/
Oh I can so relate to this! I have my prayer time early in the morning. But, life is so chaotic. I don't like it when we have no time to just "BE". A huge part of our problem is the ever ringing phone and kid's friends constantly calling and wanting my kids to run around. Other people constantly calling me and demanding my time. I sometimes feel so pushed and rushed. I just want to shut out the whole world sometimes. I love family and doing things with them, but the outside world is constantly crashing in and can drive me crazy. I wish life would slow down a tad. When I'm so busy I can't even pray. I don't like that at all!
Thanks for this post.
Lori, I'm so with you.
Ruthann, I love it. The bathroom mirror. I think it's a great idea too.
I have been busy, busy, busy for about 12 days now and am now sick. Augh! This posting really speaks to me right now!!!
Hi Rosemary - I have really enjoyed reading your blog. This idea about rushing resonates with me. We purposely try to keep our schedules light. People are always perplexed that my kids don't want to go and do....they like staying home and playing. We like having dinner together. Ever hear that expression that we are becoming Human Doers instead of Human Beings? I want to HEAR the still, the voice of God.
God Bless,
in +JMJ+
Allison www.TotusTuusFamily.blogspot.com
Allison, yes, it is a very real danger-- becoming do-ers instead of beings. Thanks for visiting my blog.
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