Are You Too Busy to…

If you hear a homily that speaks about spending more time in prayer, do you immediately dismiss it because you are too busy?

If you read in the bulletin that your parish is looking for more volunteers, do you immediately dismiss it because you are too busy?

If someone asks you to do something, whether it be for work, fun, or service to others, do you immediately say no because you are too busy?

Why are you so busy?

Of course, there really are times that we are very busy. Sometimes it is at work when we are given a big project with a looming deadline. Perhaps it is a project at home that needs to be done to repair something that is broken. These are real things that happen.

On the other hand, maybe you aren’t that busy. You just say you are to get out of something you don’t want to be involved in. Are we being honest with others? Are we being honest with ourselves?

Another reason that we find ourselves too busy is because we make ourselves too busy. Why? For some, it is because they can’t say no. We do not have to say yes to everything. To discern a response of yes or no, we should ask ourselves if we have the gifts to help and does God want me to do it.

Sometimes parents become busy because their children are involved in a lot of activities. There I ask why are the youth involved in some many activities? There seems to be an expectation for youth to be involved in as many activities as humanly possible? Why? At other times, some people seem to say yes to being on several different committees at the same time. Why?

I offer one other reason why we might choose to make ourselves busy. We are avoiding something. We fill our time up so that we don’t have to say yes to something. It may be an unpleasant task. It might be dealing with a problem that we don’t want to face. Is there something you avoid by filling your time with other tasks.

Is it better to be involved in a number of different activities and do a so-so job at them (quantity) or is it better to be involved in a small number of activities and do them well (quality)?

One might say isn’t it better to be busy. After all, “idle hands are the devil’s workshop,” right? It may be true that too much free time can lead us in trouble. For instance, in 1 Timothy 5:13 we read, “And furthermore, they learn to be idlers, going about from house to house, and not only idlers but gossips and busybodies as well, talking about things that ought not to be mentioned.”

There are finite number of hours in a day. How do you establish your priorities? Is your career your primary focus? Do you work long days to get your career established? Do those long days at work ever end? Is your family your priority? Your family should be a priority but what does that mean in terms of number of activities? Where does God fit into your priorities? You may be busy but is there something you should give up to make room for God?

Ecclesiastes 5:19 speaks of busying ourselves with the joy of our hearts. Is God the joy of your heart? He should be but sometimes we let earthly joys get in the way. Why wait for heavenly joy when we can have immediate pleasure from earthly things? That’s simple! Because earthly pleasures last but a moment. The joy we will know in Heaven if we follow Jesus as the way and the truth and the life lasts for eternity.

Paul writes, “Therefore, we are not discouraged; rather, although our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this momentary light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to what is seen but to what is unseen; for what is seen is transitory, but what is unseen is eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:16-18). What is unseen in this world is what we are created for. It is where we find eternal joy. It should be our priority.

Why do we forget this? Why is it so hard to make our relationship with God our priority? For whatever reason, we become busy, so busy that we forget about God. We did not allow ourselves a true Sabbath. God rested on the seventh day. Do you rest on the Sabbath or do you busy yourself on the Sabbath too?

I end with the words of Psalm 131.

“Lord, my heart is not proud;
    nor are my eyes haughty.
I do not busy myself with great matters,
    with things too sublime for me.
Rather, I have stilled my soul,
Like a weaned child to its mother,
    weaned is my soul.
Israel, hope in the Lord,
    now and forever.“

Peace,

Fr. Jeff