Too Busy for God

   Rush here; hurry up to get there; haven’t got time for that.  Our lives can become one crisis after another if we allow.  Look around, people rarely drive the posted speed limit.  They rush through the grocery stores grabbing what they need while barely stopping the cart.  Even when they are supposed to be on vacation they can’t slow down.  Rather than have an enjoyable relaxing time they rush from one theme park to another and from ride to ride within the park.

   Some Sunday sit in one of the back pews at Church.  You will see people rushing into Mass at the last minute and heading for the doors before the last prayer and blessing.  I’ve wondered what could be so important that the extra few minutes they gain are worth the lack of respect shown to God by their actions.  At times I’ve seen these very same people sitting in a restaurant eating breakfast when I arrive.  Did they leave the table of God in such a hurry just to get to the table of their restaurant?

   Our society seems to favor those who are always busy, often to their own detriment.  The boss answers emails at all hours of the day and night on Sunday as well as every other day of the week.  The one who wants to succeed tries to emulate the boss so they ignore their family and their God to better their chances of promotion at work.  Both their family life and spiritual life suffer.

   Even in retirement I see people who are rushing from place to place.  For what purpose?  The habits we form in our earlier life are difficult to change in retirement.  We still act as though we need to be in a hurry for everything.  At a time when we should be taking more time for God and family we are still in a hurry to nowhere.

   We need to slow down and take the time to enjoy life and get to know our families.  We need to better know our God.  Even though you may still be in the work-a-day world there are ways to achieve balance between what must be done and what should be done.  Priorities need to be revisited with the health of family and spiritual life in mind.

   Jesus tells a parable of a rich man who could not seem to rest.  “And he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns, and build larger ones; and there I will store all my grain and my goods.  And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; take your ease, eat, drink, be merry.’  But God said to him, ‘Fool!  This night your soul is required of you; and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?” (Luke 12: 18-20).  It is appropriately called "The Parable of the Rich Fool."

   We have a choice.  We can live our lives chasing worldly goods or we can live them seeking God.  Make the right choice.  Don’t ignore the daily needs but focus on the eternal ones.  What you have today can be gone tomorrow; the treasures you gain in heaven are everlasting.