June 9, 2021 I felt like more would’ve changed. It’s been more than a year since our lives were upended with the arrival of continuance of the coronavirus pandemic. It’s been hard for lots of people and for lots of different reasons, but there were blessings, too. For many of us, the world slowed down. We spent more time at home with our families. We had more time to read, relax and enjoy simple pleasures like gardening, backyard fires and card games. Now, the world is beginning to reopen. While I’m extremely grateful that’s happening, I also feel like I’m rapidly leaving behind some of the lessons I thought I had learned. Maybe some of it is a reaction to having gone so long with a nearly empty in-person social calendar, but I now find myself with several nights a week booked with engagements. Of those, roughly 95 percent don’t involve my husband or son. Most of these engagements involve gatherings with friends I haven’t seen in well over a year. They’re good gatherings. They’re fun gatherings. After months and months of time I should’ve been learning the value of time with family, I find myself spending far too much time away from my family. A kind reader once wrote to me and noted that she had been advised by a spiritual director to limit her outside engagements – commitments that took her away from her family – to no more than two a week. I had roughly been trying to follow that wisdom prior to the pandemic. While occasional exceptions to that policy are bound to occur, I think it’s a policy to which I need to return. God called me to my life as a wife and mother. While I believe God calls me to other roles (friend, employee, volunteer), and I appreciate and value those other roles, I need to be mindful to ensure I’m meeting the needs of my primary vocation. It has to be my first priority. I was partly inspired to this realization by my conversations this week with the newly ordained priests of our diocese. They speak so excitedly of their desire move forward living their vocations, serving God and God’s people. These are men who have been changed by their ordinations and the start of their fulfilment of their vocations, and they’re already helping God change others. At least they’ve helped (hopefully) change me. |
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