Almost all of us have busy lives so here are a couple of ideas to make time for God. One idea is to wake up a little early and spend some time in prayer before getting up and/or go to bed a little early and spend some time in prayer and spiritual types of reading before going to sleep.
St. Teresa of Avila said she often began prayer with a good
spiritual book to help put her mind on God as to pray correctly one needs to first
set aside other concerns and put our minds on God alone and then she also advises to
speak to Jesus as one would
a friend.
Loving the people in our life also requires
setting aside some time for them.
Love desires to be with those we love and just as we set aside time to be with God alone, so we need to make time for our loved ones on earth by spending time with the people who count to us.
If we want a relationship with God and others we need to spend some time relating or else no relationship!
No time?
How much time do you spend on the internet or watching TV or doing other recreational types of things or maybe even working for things you don't really need while neglecting those things you do, like God and some special people in your life?
The greatest two commandments are:
Love God with your whole heart, whole mind and whole strength and your neighbor as yourself.
If we do these things we will have inner peace now and forever and if we don't, we won't.
St. Therese of Lisieux had some words worth pondering as she neared her own death... she said, "
It is love alone that counts".
No need to worry about things anyway as
God will take care of all our needs when we put Him first including our need for a spouse and people to love us and to love in return.
If we are doing that and it hasn't happened yet, what is needed is
trust... do what is right and good and true and trusting God has a great plan for our life and it will unfold as time goes on and in the right time.
We don't need to do things out of fear or impulsiveness or drives, in fact those feelings should not be acted on but just trust God and do what is right and what often is accompanied by a sense of deep peace inside where God dwells inside us and things will be as they should and even better than we imagined they could be.
The Bible says, "
Fear is useless, what is needed is trust" and if we don't have it or anything else we need the Bible says, "Ask you and will receive, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be open."
As far as earthly things go, Our Lady of Fatima said that what is required of us all is
doing our "daily duty".
Our daily duty is to what is required for us at this time and place in our life and relationships.
Doing what is right can be a gigantic struggle because we are all sinners and we need God's grace to overcome but we have God's promise of his help and grace for the asking seeking to do what is right and letting the chips fall where they may.
We need to
pray for the strength to do what is right and God will give us the grace and make up for the lack in our actions and make all things work together for good in our life.
With us some things are impossible, but with God all things are possible.
We need to become God pleasers and not a people pleasers.
Pain isn't pleasant but sometimes it is necessary to achieve real change and growth for ourselves and others so we need to accept any necessary pain and work through it to achieve the goal.
Additional thoughts: If we want to be holy, we
seek God's will alone and really that is the only thing that makes sense as God loves us more than we love ourselves.
He wants only what is best for us in the long run and He knows everything and we don't and he knows what is best and we don't, so seeking his will is really and truly seeking our best good.
Some of us who have made messes of our lives in various ways realize this through experience, but it is possible to learn this just by trying it... if we try it (learn God's will and put it into practice) we will see it is true and works without having to understand it or learn things the hard way or hit bottom or whatever. Jesus says if we want to know what is true, to do to what He says and we will know it is true.
That is how we know it is true in the doing it, not in the understanding it, as we will understand it when we do it... so the thing here is not intellectualizing but putting it into practice.
In effect Jesus says: Do what I tell you and you will know it is true.
With God's help we can do it, and with someone like that on our team all will be fine.
Summary: Seek God first and all things will be given us besides and all things will work together for good (as God describes good not as we do as sometimes what seems good to us really isn't best in the long run and only God really knows what is best and sometimes we don't know what is best in any given circumstances) if we love God and put him first in our lives.
Jesus' prayer:Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed by thy name. Thy kingdom come,
THY WILL BE DONE on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. Amen. (For yours is the kingdom, the power and the glory, forever).
From
Catholic Spiritual Direction.
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