Time to Reprioritize and Slow Down

In many ways 2019 seems like it was so long ago. In fact, it seems like an eternity! Our lives have been flipped upside down in a matter of mere months. This year has been unlike any most of us have ever experienced. We have all made sacrifices and had to change the way we go about living our daily lives. From a practical point of view some of those changes have been positive for my life. In particularly, the Lord showed me the importance of taking a step back and slowing down.

Our society is constantly on the go. Think about this for a moment: when do you slow down?

Too Much On Our Plates

If you are like me, then the only time you actually slow down is when your head hits the pillow at the end of the day. My days before COVID-19 were a whirlwind and, at least in my mind, there was no time for rest. I am a father of four. I work full time, have a podcast, and a YouTube channel. I teach at church, write, and am also a PhD student. My days started at 4:00am, and I would go to bed at 11:00pm.

I list these things not to focus on me but to demonstrate how busy life in America has become. I suspect that I am not the only one with such a lifestyle. Amid this hectic schedule, where do I fit in time with the Lord, let alone sleep?

On a very positive note, the pandemic quickly turned into a time of self-reflection for me.

Though I was in the habit of reading scripture every day prior to the pandemic, I believe that I was doing it just to say I did it. Was I praying and pondering what I was reading? Not really, because, while reading, my mind was generally on another track, thinking about all the things I had to do. In late March I read Proverbs 12:1 which states, “Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid.”

We Can Be Too Busy

It dawned on me that my busy-ness was distracting me from my relationship with Christ. I was doing all these things for Him, but the rigor of my schedule prevented me from building upon that one most important relationship in my life. When I read that passage from Proverbs, I tried to rationalize my schedule. I would say “Lord I need to make money to feed my family, but my podcast, writing, and YouTube are all about you. I am doing these things to spread the word about you and your Church”. The bottom line is that we all try to rationalize things.

To rectify that, I woke up early and prayed for thirty minutes during a period of five days. No phone, no technology, just the Lord and me. There was a lot that happened during those thirty-minute prayer sessions.

Two words were very prominent . . . “slow down”. Like an engine at full throttle I had been redlining for a long time. The stress and lack of sleep were beginning to take their toll. This thirty-minute period of prayer and scripture reading was not only refreshing but energizing.

By giving time to God, something profound happened. It was like time was being multiplied. Slowing down allowed me to reprioritize, and I not only spent more time with God, but also with my wife and children. Not only that, everything on my plate was still getting done. In fact, it was improved.

We all have things to do, but as Catholic Christians we need to remember that the enemy is using every tactic possible to keep our minds from God and the Church. Seemingly good things can become a distraction if we are not careful. If we keep our eyes on the Lord, everything will fall in place.

Two words of advice: slow down.

Wisdom from the Saints

This theme of slowing down can easily been found in the teaching of various saints.  There is no doubt that this teaching manifests itself in various ways, and each person receives this teaching differently.  A quote from the great St. Augustine of Hippo speaks to me in a deep way:

“Our hearts were made for You, O Lord, and they are restless until they rest in You.”

I have seen, time and again in my life, that I start things for the Lord with the best of intentions.  Slowly but surely some pride creeps in, and I take my eye off of the one I am doing the work for.

In other words, it begins to be about me.  I begin to get restless with the busy-ness and nonstop work that I lose sight of God.  This pandemic has reaffirmed the fact that my eyes, and yours, must remain fixed on God.  It is He who directs our paths, and it is only through Him that we will see lasting change.

Another quote, this one from Mother Teresa of Calcutta, is one we can all hopefully see the value in.

“We cannot all do great things, but we can do small things with great love.”

Slowing down helps us realize what is importance and how we may have taken things for granted.  We can do everything, no matter the task with love, and it can be an act of evangelization.