The Busyness of Life

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Mary Oliver asks us, “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”  Many of us are busy about many good things.  Are these the things that we need to be busy about all the time?  In the past few months I have found myself being very, very busy about many good things.  Being in full-time parish ministry is very time consuming.  Sometimes I find myself working, working and working without taking the time to do the things that I really love and that feed my mind, body and spirit.  Important things like going to the beach, reading a good novel just for the fun of it.

I then have to stop myself and ask, “Is this what I want to do with my one wild precious life?”  Don’t get me wrong I love parish ministry- it is very fulfilling.  Yet it does not feed my entire mind, body and spirit.  It is the time that I spend basking in my God’s presence, walking on the beach, being with love ones, being in awe of creation.   These are only some of the things that feed my entire being.  Sometimes it is so easy to get caught up in the ‘good’ things that I do that I forget to balance it with the other ‘good’ things that feed my mind, body and spirit. “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”

What are the things that feed your mind, body and spirit?  Are you taking the time to do them?  Are you taking the time to bask in the goodness of God and all of creation?

Lystra Long, OP
New Grant, Trinidad


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