An Alternative to Being Busy

by Sarah Reinhard | April 18, 2016 12:04 am

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Am I busier…

…than the third world woman who has no electricity and has to walk miles for a five-gallon bucket of water?

…than the grandma who’s watching her grandkids, managing bills, and still getting dinner?

…than any priest I’ve ever met or worked for?

My list goes on. And on. And ON!

The answer is…I don’t know. But I can’t help but think about busy, given that it’s everyone’s standard answer.

You know it’s safe to say that you’re busy to whoever’s asking how you are. Those who love you know that you’re squeezing in whatever favor they’re asking of you between the busy of this and the busy of that.

Blame technology. Blame the kids. Blame the pace of life.

But I’m not sure “busy” means what it used to mean, and I’m not sure it means what we think it means or what I want it to mean.

Sometimes, when I say I’m “busy,” what I mean is “I can’t decide what’s most important right now, so I’m juggling a few things at once, doing them all badly, and longing for help.”

Other times, “busy” is code for “I won’t sit down before 9:00 tonight but I’m loving every minute of it.”

And then there are the times that I say “busy” when I mean “I just wish I could quit.”

Is busy keeping you from what’s important?

When’s the last time you were too busy to…

…pray?

…play with a child?

…sit quietly?

And my list can go on here, too.

Let’s change our response from busy to blessed, as speaker Tiffany Timmons-Saab[2] encouraged a group of women in my diocese recently.

“It’s a privilege,” she noted.

And she’s right. Being as busy as I am is nothing less than a blessing…so why don’t I respond in kind?

Care to join me in giving a different response the next time someone asks how you are? They already know you’re busy…why not share just how blessed you are?

Source URL: https://integratedcatholiclife.org/2016/04/reinhard-alternative-to-being-busy/

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