During this New Year, make room for Time-Outs.
Our days seem to get busier and busier, don’t they? In fact, we find ourselves wishing for more time just to do what needs to be done. Yet, what we’re seeking isn’t more time, but less time. A Time-Out where we simply stop and just be.
During this break, we can pause, breathe deeply, rid ourselves of distractions and get reacquainted with who we are. The philosopher Blaise Pascal explains: “By means of diversion we can avoid our own company twenty-four hours a day.”
When we allow our mind and heart to catch up to our activity, we clearly see the spiritual lying within our busyness. Our life activities are not always duty or obligation, but more importantly is assisting Jesus in building his Kingdom. And Jesus knows it’s within a Time-Out or quiet time we realize this neglected action. Jesus’ life gives purpose to everything we do. Without his incarnate birth and life among us nothing we do would matter at all.
The popular spiritual writer Henry Nouwen wrote: “Everyday look for a place to be alone.” Nouwen suggests in that solitary, sacred space is “where we connect with Jesus who gives our lives meaning.” When we invite Jesus to walk with us in these ordinary times, each step we take becomes a miracle.
Thinking of Jesus can slow down our speed, soften our heart, and help us to notice everyone around us. We can actually see them, appreciate their needs, and realize how they might profit from our gifts. It is like turning a black and white movie into a brilliant colorful film.
When Jesus took his Time-Outs, he saw more than lepers, those who were cripple and those who were blind. Jesus saw human beings who needed his attention. When Jesus gazed at Martha and Mary and saw their grief for their deceased brother Lazarus, Jesus responded with tears.
Jesus’ compassion turned his healings into pastoral care moments. When we take the time to feel another’s pain, love immediately starts the healing before anything else we do.
During this New Year, when busyness overtakes us, take a Time-Out to let our hearts catch-up. When this happens, we turn our ordinary actions into a great act of praise to God, and miracles can happen on the earth.
St. Francis de Sales wrote:
Great opportunities to praise God are infrequent but turning small acts into great acts of praise happen daily.
Happy New Year to all my readers.
