In a state of feeling completely over her head, a new colleague of mine suggested/requested I write a post about “finding time for Jesus”.
She then listed the 5,000 things she had to do on a daily basis. After that she said some sweet things and stated that she had to run to “bathe the dogs”. Not one dog – plural dogs. She had to go bathe more than one dog and that did not make it on her first list of things that made her feel overwhelmed.
Part of me thinks she may have written to the wrong person.
Maybe she thinks I am that cute organization blogger. Maybe she just needs about two more days of knowing me before she realizes how unqualified I am to write a post about finding time for anything.
Or maybe . . . God just wants her to stop being so hard on herself.
God has a huge sense of humor, so it is quite possible that He thought – “Oh honey, you are not a mess . . . I’ll show you a MESS! . . .”
And here I am 🙂 Always here to provide a good laugh. Like that time I was at a bar/restaurant and thought I was walking over to my friends but I was actually walking into a glass wall.
Since I know I am bad at time management, and organization in general, I can share advice that other people have given me.
- Pray the Rosary – I did not say – nor has Our Lady said – “pray the Rosary well”. I read a quote in the past year that said something like, “A distracted Rosary is better than no Rosary”. I can’t find who said it (because I am disorganized), but I know that was the gist of it. So, I took out the two year old and the three year old and let them play while I prayed the Rosary. I knew I would have to stop to break up an argument, remind them they can’t run down the street, answer three hundred questions, and “watch this” fifty five times. But, I read that quote and thought, “any Rosary is better than no Rosary”! ** Check out “Gracious Words” on Christian Bling’s Website; it is a gorgeous bracelet that is also a complete Rosary. I LOVE it. It would be a great reminder to pray the Rosary everyday!
- Go to Adoration – Before I became a parent, I went to adoration on a regular basis. I usually stayed and prayed for an hour. After our son was born, I found that I just couldn’t do it. I was under the impression that I had to go for at least an hour. But, then I had the pleasure of meeting Crystalina Evert at the Wine, Wisdom and What Now? Conference in Philadelphia. (Imagine that, I went to a conference with the name wine in the title). Anyway . . . I got talking to Crystalina, who had her youngest baby with her. Somehow we were talking about adoration and I must have said I can’t find the hour. Crystalina said, “It doesn’t have to be an hour! It can be 10 minutes!” I thought – 1. She totally gets it and 2. Oh. Yeah. 1o minutes is better than not going at all! Then I probably said, “duh”. Why did I need someone else to tell me this?
- Prayer does not have to be formal – I recently went to confession and my priest told me to be careful about how much I judge myself. He said, “people ask me how I pray – I say I read Reader’s Digest”. He was reminding me that prayer can be in many forms. One time I was walking up the stairs with a load of laundry and had a thought – the thought was, “how can my prayers for women considering an abortion matter. I know I don’t love them as much as God loves them.” I thought it was just a thought – but God answered me in a BIG way. God knows our hearts. He is listening. He is with us when we are matching socks, writing lesson plans, paying our mortgage and wiping snot. It may not sound like the Gregorian Chant to us . . . but to Our Lord, who loves us more than we can ever imagine, it’s music to his ears.
- Remember to “bloom where you are planted: Mother Teresa said, “It is easy to love the people far away,” . .. “It is not always easy to love those close to us. It is easier to give a cup of rice to relieve hunger than to relieve the loneliness and pain of someone unloved in our own home. Bring love into your home, for this is where our love for each other must start.”
- Stop being so hard on yourself! – Okay, so this one is from me. Trust me, you are doing a good job. Yes you, you – if you are reading this – you are doing a great job! You are so wonderful!!! God LOVES you! I have to tell you what Father Shelly said (an awesome priest that has since retired) at every Mass, “Ladies and gentlemen, my parents loved me sooo much. But their LOVE DOESN’T COMPARE TO THE LOVE GOD HAS FOR US! Eye has not seen, ear has not heard, what God has ready for those who love Him!” You chose to read a post titled “When There is No Time for Prayer”. You’re doing what you can – just keep going!
Thank you so much for reading this!! Please feel free to leave prayer intentions and I will pray for you while I clean this horrifying office!!!
Update: Still cleaning my office; but have to share this beautiful bracelet with you again. I don’t earn money if it is sold – I just really love it that much! Click her to purchase: Christian Bling – once you are on the website; search for “Gracious Words”.
I love your honesty in the struggle to find time for prayer. I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about this in the last year or so, and have several blogs about it on my website. One observation that I have, and this could be because I do not have a catholic background, so forgive me if I get it wrong and know I am being careful in how I phrase because I mean no disrespect whatsoever, and please correct me if I get it wrong! But one observation I have always had with the catholic denomination is that there is more of a focus on prayer being a pattern of phrases, or repeated prayers. Growing up, and in my own study of the Bible I find that prayer should be much more relational, a conversation with God like you would with a best friend. This has freed me to talk with God more throughout the day, and make me feel like I have the time I need. God doesn’t need me to sit down and pray with my Bible in front of me every time I want to talk to him. Sure, praying back scripture enhances my prayer life immensely, but I can also have a conversation with him about the frustrations of my child not taking a nap when it’s important she does so due to travel later this afternoon (the current situation as I’m writing this reply) while I am typing away at the computer. It’s okay to remember to show yourself some grace and not expect long alone time with God because of the season you are in. I currently have begun the practice of getting up an hour and a half before the rest of my household so that I get that alone time to start my day. It has also made a difference.
Amy – thank you so much for your honesty, total respect and awesome, awesome comment! Catholics believe that prayer comes in four forms – adoration, contrition, petition and thanksgiving. Catholics believe in formal and informal praying (that’s my wording – basicly – like you said – a conversation with Jesus!) I remember being taught to just picture Jesus sitting next to me – and to talk to Him. As Catholics, we also believe in meditating on the life of Jesus and Scripture. When we pray the Rosary, we are actually thinking about Jesus’ agony in the Garden or Jesus’ Transfiguration. It helps me to repeat prayers while thinking about these events because I am easily distracted! One last thing – I feel like a lot of non-Catholics do not realize – the Hail Mary comes from quoting part of Luke’s Gospel – and we are requesting Mary to pray to Our Lord for us. And you are absolutely right about getting up before the rest of the household – I’ve been lazy about that lately! I hope I was respectful to you too! You rock – let me know which post of yours about this I should share and I will tweet it and share it on Facebook!
This made me cry.
Liz – I hope you are okay! I was hoping the picture of the girl in the washer would make you laugh!
Okay I love this! Time is of the essence, especially when you are a mama bear. I tried sitting quietly for about 10 days in a row to say the rosary and found it was so difficult with all the distractions. I became discouraged and completely gave up on it. More than that though, my heart feels guilty when my prayers are done like some kind of rehearsed motion, with little to no intention or conviction behind them. I’m guilty when I say this happens more often than I care to admit. But I’m reminded that it is from our love of the Lord where obsedience is born and it is the promoting of the Holy Spirit that encourages us to pray. So any prayer is better than nothing at all because the very act is born of love and faith. Thank you for this reminder.
I’m a happy to be the messenger Brittany!!! Thank you so much for the positive feedback! I hope you have an awesome day!
There will come a time when you end up with lots of time for prayer (I am at that point now) and if you haven’t started like you have with ‘a distracted rosary is better than none’ and ’10 minutes of adoration is better than none’ then when you have time it is harder to get going with it. I am a revert and after so many years away I truly am so impressed with what you do to practise the faith. The blog, the moments in each day, teaching your child these things may not feel like you have it together but dear young lady you so do. I read your blog even now to add how to do this during my quieter days, all my volunteer time is at the church. I say my rosary during my morning walk each day and sometimes it is still distracted by crossing the streets, saying good morning and watching where I am walking but it starts my day just right. Thank you for your blog.
Thank you so much for reassuring me that I am on the right path! And THANK YOU SO MUCH for the sweet, encouraging words! I had a moment of doubt early this morning – and you are a Godsend! I want to hug you! Thank you so much and God Bless You! xoxo
So thankful that prayer is informal! Glad we can approach Jesus ANY time of the day