Mother and Child
I like to think I’m important. And in my defense, I am. The problem is, I like to think I’m important to people other than my husband and my kids and my family and my friends.
I get caught up in what I’m doing in my self-importance: the work of writing and blogging, the parish job and ministries, the stuff outside my home. I know my big-V vocation is important: I’m a wife and mother first. But does my life reflect that?
Let’s just say it can use some improvement.
As I continue to contemplate true discipleship, I keep coming back to the work I do and how it’s important.
I write. I work for my parish. I pin and tweet and share. I’m all about evangelizing. I’m all about using new ways to do it.
I also care for my family. I read and wash and soothe. I move in an endless cycle of days punctuated by small footsteps and household needs.
I’m busy in ways that change and grow with my family, forcing me to become a better person.
But the really important work? That happens in the wee hours of the morning, before anyone else in my house is awake and the sun is just cresting the horizon. That happens when my phone explodes throughout the day in a ringtone that calls me to my knees. That happens when I make time to spend time with the One who gave me everything I have.
Prayer. That’s the most important work I do.
In our ongoing discussion about the Catholic life, let’s not forget to pray first, second, and third. Let’s not fail to make our conversation with God–a two-way conversation of talking and listening — our top priority.
How else are we going to be able to live as true disciples? How else will we be able to share the Good News? How else will we be prepared for the battle that surely awaits us?
Sarah Reinhard is a Catholic wife, mom and author whose nose is probably in a book if she’s not scraping something off of her shoes. Her latest book is A Catholic Mother’s Companion to Pregnancy: Walking with Mary from Conception to Baptism. Check out all of her books at http://sarahreinhard.com/writing/my-books/.
Visit Sarah’s website: http://sarahreinhard.com/
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