One Thing

Several months ago I’d gotten a bit frantic. Why? There were various people telling me how important it was to say this prayer, and to say that prayer, and to say the other prayer, or maybe it was just the voice in my head.  I also felt frantic about how many people needed prayer, and trying to  think of and concentrate on them all.

I went to see a spiritual director who told me, “all that is required is that you pray. Pick one thing.”  My heart relaxed. And the truth is that I began to pray more than usual, because I’d be so overwhelmed by possibilities I hadn’t really been doing anything. Now I was focused on one thing, yet ended up praying freely throughout the day without the frantic sense of “must.”

Also, he told me that I can offer up those I’m praying for before my time of prayer and then focus on the connection with God. I can be in the Presence of Christ. I don’t have to be thinking and worrying about them. That wasn’t what was going to make the prayer. Connect. They will be blessed through it. But it was important that I meditate on that Presence.  This added a great deal of peace to my life.

One thing. This may not be the answer for everyone. All people are different. But most of the people I know are overwhelmed by just how much there is to do.

If we look at the world too much we can easily become overwhelmed by all the ways to help. Some people are so frantic at the possibilities that they don’t do anything. Honestly, in this culture of global awareness, I think most of us are. We are running around with brains created for tribes and villages, and we are in an information age. We are overwhelmed. Many people are so overwhelmed that we are frozen.

What if we each did just one thing?  We could choose to do a little thing per day. We could choose to do a bigger thing per week or month,  or what if we had one area of service in our lives that we are devoted to?  This depends on the life and conscience of each of us.  But ponder this for yourself. What is my one thing? Perhaps you will find that you are making a difference more than you were before, yet you are more at peace.

May God bless your day.