I know you're busy, but this is important

 

We just ended a season of little league baseball and softball. Well, regular season ended. We just started All Stars for our youngest.

Having multiple kids in sports is B-U-S-Y. We were at the ball fields every night of the week and most of the day each Saturday. The youngest had a few different tournaments, and if you know the softball tournament world you understand that you live at the ball fields those weekends. Games on Friday night, all day Saturday and all day Sunday.

The baby’s second to last regular season tournament was exhausting. It was a hot weekend, my husband was working nights the first part so I was solo with all of the kids at the fields the first night, and then the second day I was literally at the fields for 9 hours. There was no time for laundry, no time to get ready for school for the week, no time for the rest I desperately wanted. Getting home that night we hardly had the energy for showers before it was time to go to bed. The next day would be a Sunday and another full day of games- however the first wasn’t an early start and we didn’t need to be at the fields till after 11am! I hit my pillow that Saturday night and thought to myself if we skip church this one weekend, God will understand. We need to sleep in! We are all exhausted. Missing one week won’t hurt.

I seriously wrestled with this thought. But after waking the next day, I got all of us up for church like every other Sunday. We packed clothes to change into for after church (we'd have to change in our van because the time in between Mass and getting to the fields wouldn’t be enough to get home.) We hurried to get ready. We hurried to pack a cooler and snacks for the field. We hurried out the door to drive to church.

Kneeling in the pews that morning at our parish, the busy and the rush and the go go go all slowed down.  I had been so stressed, and so worn out, but all of that worry and that weary disappeared. I realized how badly I needed to be at Mass then. My real rest, my real rejuvenation, comes when I’m grounded in the Truth of who I am, who we are as a family and what our foundation is. I thanked God that He didn’t let me listen to the lie that told me I didn’t need to be there. I would have missed out that day on the only real source of peace there is in this world.

I’ve been listening to the Catechism in a Year podcast and the other day Fr. Mike talked about how many of us DESIRE Heaven but most of us don’t CHOOSE Heaven. That resonated with me. How often have I said that I of course want an eternity in Heaven, but I haven’t really been choosing God now? I’ve been so bold to assume I have the time to choose Him later. To do better later. To love my neighbor more later. To ask for forgiveness later, as if that time is guaranteed to me. I’ve been “too busy” to choose all of that now. But the truth is that I need to put first things first, no matter what my schedule looks like.

So. I know you’re busy. But if you haven’t prayed today, here is your sign! If you haven’t been to church in a while, maybe there is a big reason you opened this blog post today. This world will throw all sorts of distractions your way, but none of them will fulfill you in the way you were created for. True love really does exist.

You are loved so immensely and you deserve to live in that love, every single day. But this has to be your choice. You’ll have to give your permission because true love isn’t forced.

Again, I know you’re busy. But this is important. Like, life and death importance. For real.

If you’ve read this far, please know I have prayed for you!

Until next time . . .