come to me

Flying is not one of my favorite things, and there is nothing like the thought of being 40,000 feet above the earth to motiviate you to make sure things are "right" in your life.  The best way I have of doing this is the wonderful, misunderstood sacrament of reconciliation.  Jesus says "come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest."  So I can walk in with my burdens, leave them there with Jesus, and walk out with that "easy yoke".

And that's what I did before 6:30 Mass on Friday.  There were a couple of things I wanted to hit the "delete" key on.  One on-going theme in my life is finding time for quality prayer.  Daily Mass is awesome, but it is not private prayer, and there needs to be time for that, too.  I fnd myself either hurrying through prayer so that I can be done with prayer and on to something else (which isn't really a good attitude for developing a relationship with a loving Father) or putting it off until the end of the day when there are hardly any brain cells still functioning.  If God has something to tell me at that point in the day, I'm not likely to hear it.  'Cause you have to be listening, and quite honestly, I've done about all the listening I'm going to do by the time prayer rolls around. 

Sometimes, in that wonderful sacrament I get advice, sometimes not.  The advice, when it comes, is always helpful.  Maybe the Holy Spirit has somthing to do with it.  The advice on this particular day was to change the order of things., to find the time of day when I am "best for the Lord", and that quality is more important than quantity.  (We have had the quality vs quantity discussion before.  Perhaps I should revisit that.)  Lord, help me find the time of the day when I am at my best for You so that You can have the firstfruits and not the leftovers.  Help me to remember that quality is more pleasing than quantity and to be quiet long enough to hear You.  And Lord, thank you for the awesome gift of Your mercy, which You give so freely and we deserve not at all.