Making time

Do you ever feel like life is a treadmill? Like life is a series of events, meetings and endless to-do lists? I am the kind of girl who likes to get to the bottom of her to do list before she sits down with a cuppa so oftentimes, that means I never sit down! There is just so much to do, that if I just keep going, it will get done eventually.

Well, that’s the theory but, as you can imagine, it never pans out that way. Discontent surfaces on two fronts: my unfinished to do list, and never getting round to putting my feet up and unwinding with my husband…

In our fast-moving, multi-tasking, tightly-scheduled lives, the idea of making more time sounds like an impossible dream. But, is it?

If I were able to make more time, I would watch my daughter go to sleep, instead of running through my mental lists while I am at her bedside… I would pick up the phone and call a friend, instead of pinging a text message because its quicker… I would sit down with my husband and immerse myself in his favourite TV show, instead of concentrating on my knitting, and not really watch the show at all.

And what about God? I confess,  I often run out of time with Him too. There are times when I fall asleep while reading my Magnificat. Sometimes, I am so tired I say a very truncated night prayer. Often, I rush through prayer without giving God a chance to say something to me. And spending time with Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament chapel seems like it’s no longer an option with a one-year old toddler at my side…

How can I make more time? By putting God first; I could forgo a lie-in to read my Magnificat. I could spend that coffee break reading Scripture instead of a magazine. I could turn off the lunchtime news and pray the Angelus. During a jog or a walk, I could pray the rosary before I let my mind wander. I could make an effort to get to daily Mass on a regular basis. I could even co-ordinate nap time with adoration, and sit in silence with Jesus. Making time can seem impossible, but if we are able to make time for God, then He’ll help us handle the rest.

This post is part of the Blessed Is She link-up on the theme of making time. Head over there to read more posts in the link-up.

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Baptism

Do you remember your baptism? Cradle Catholics, like me, have no memory of this special day, when they were initiated into the Catholic Church.

Last year, I gained a new perspective on baptism when my daughter, Teresa, was baptised. The joy I felt on that day will stay with me forever. Words cannot describe the happiness I felt in my heart. As the holy water trickled over her newborn head, my baby was being born anew through the sacrament of Baptism.  She entered the gateway to life in the Spirit and became a member of the body of Christ.

Through her baptism, Teresa now bears a permanent and lasting spiritual mark on her soul. This mark reveals that she belongs to Christ. Because of this, baptism cannot be repeated, even if she should choose to convert to another Christian denomination. Through her baptism in the universal Church, Teresa is now a daughter of God.

Jesus instructs us;

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you (Matt 28:19-20)

With baptism comes great responsibility for parents, godparents and family. The Vatican II document, Lumen Gentium, exhorted believers with the universal call to holiness. When Pope Benedict XVI visited the UK, he reminded a gathering of school children of God’s desire for them to be holy. Benedict invited the children to become saints of the twenty-first century.

Our job as parents, godparents, grandparents, aunties, sisters, spiritual mothers and friends is to hold our childrens’ hands tightly on the path to holiness; teach them, provide them with role models and above all, to pray with them and pray for them, that they may one day be welcomed into the loving embrace of their heavenly Father, hearing those longed-for words: “Well done, good and faithful servant”.

This post is part of the Blessed Is She link-up.

7QT: Encounters, Books and Prayer

1. A blessed meeting– Have you heard of the Blessed is She community? It’s a community of women online, who connect via blog and Instagram. Every day the Mass readings for the day and a short reflection by a member of the community arrive in my inbox. It sets me up for the day. Through this online community, I connected with a Blessed is She sister who also lives in Ireland, and we met for the first time at the weekend! A happy encounter and the first of many, I hope!

2. Park life– the sun has been shining this week so we have replaced indoor play with outdoor play and trips to the park. Sometimes twice a day! Little T loves the swings and the toddler slide. And watching the other kids, the dogs, and the man cutting the grass… happy days!

3. Longer runs– I’ve mentioned before I recently completed a couch to 5k programme, and I am hoping to run a 10k at the end of the month. Well, I have no official training plan, other than do a couple of 5k runs and one long run per week. The few weeks, I have started doing those longer runs (6k, 7.5k and 8k) and I love them! Changing my route really distracts me from the fact that the run is longer and running up hills I thought I could only roll down has made me appreciate how much my fitness has improved.

4. #UNIRL– #UNIRL, UN Ireland, was trending on Twitter this week. Why? Because a UN committee have said that Ireland must have a referendum on abortion to ensure women and girls in Ireland can fully realise their economic, social and cultural rights. The Committee said that the Irish Constitution appeared to “elevate the unborn to the status of a citizen” and said there was a “contradiction between” the Irish Constitutional right afforded to the unborn and the rights guaranteed by the Covenant “to a woman’s right to life and to health”.

This is being pushed further by so-called human rights organisation, Amnesty International, who fight for human rights while simultaneously denying a person’s first right- the right to life. It’s sad and disheartening to see UN agenda being played out in our small country.

5. Walk Softly and Carry a Great Bag– Teresa Tomeo, host of EWTN’s Catholic Connection, published this devotional book at the end of last year. I have been dying to get it and it finally arrived through my letterbox this week! Yey! I have only read a few of the reflections, but lets just say, I won’t be putting this book on the bookshelf, I will be carrying it round with me in my bag so I have it to hand when I have a few free minutes for some reading

6. Dawn Eden– speaker and author came to Ireland this week and I managed to catch her on her tour. She is a faith-filled, inspirational woman who has overcome a difficult start in life and is now a convert to the Catholic Church, and writes and speaks about chastity and healing wounds. She shared her testimony on EWTN’s The Journey Home. I’m looking forward to reading her new book- the Thrill of the Chaste- Catholic Edition!

7. The Sacred Heart Novena- The novena for this great feast began last Thursday, so I should have been praying the novena all week. Well, I thought about praying it every day, and desperately wanted to do it, but it didn’t quite work out… until Thursday, one week later. I did all the readings, prayers and reflections for every day in one go. I know, its not an ideal way to pray a novena, but I am learning that, as a mum, prayer time and Mass time are different!

How was your week? Post me a comment in the box, I would love to hear from you 🙂

Head over to This Aint the Lyceum for more quick takes!