Tips for making God a Priority in Your Life.
Busy. Sometimes it seems like busy is a bad word. “Mom, can you read to me?” is a question we may hear from our kids. “Not now; I’m too busy.” When a friend asks you how you are doing, is “I’m busy” your knee-jerk response? We may even feel that we are too busy for God. If you feel that way sometimes, you are in the right place to learn some tips about how to grow in your faith even if you think you are too busy.
It turns out you do not need a lot of time to grow in your faith. In order to develop a closer relationship with God without having a lot of time, you need to make a plan.
Make a plan to make God more of a priority in your life.
A simple plan is all you need. Here are three steps you can take. Choose one to start with.
Step 1: Ask God to help you to grow in your love for Him.
Ask God for help. He is our loving Father, our Creator. Jesus dies for us because He loves us that much. Ask Him for help. He will help you.
Ask God to help you to love Him more. Ask him to help you to identify the pockets of time in your day when you can pray. Ask Him to help you to focus on your prayers when you do pray and you find your mind wandering.
Step 2: Plan a time to pray today.
Decide when you will pray today. Don’t be concerned about making a plan to pray an hour every day for the rest of your life. Start with today. What will you do today.
Will you get up five minutes early and pray before you get out of bed? Will you pray when you are folding the laundry? Do you want to pray a Rosary when you are driving around doing errands? Do you want to pray with your family before your kids go to bed at night?
Pick one time in your day when you will pray. If it works out well, pray at that time tomorrow. If it did not work out so well, make a new plan for tomorrow.
Don’t be concerned about having a perfect plan for daily prayer right now, or being concerned about not spending a long time in prayer. Starting small is better than not starting at all. Five minutes in prayer is better than praying for zero minutes.
Step 3: Decide when you will read the Bible or a spiritual book today-even three pages.
One way to grow in our faith is to read the Bible and spiritual books. Just like with prayer, start small. Pick up your Bible and read one chapter. Or find that spiritual book you have had on your bookshelf for a while that you have been wanting to read and read three pages.
Just as with prayer, a small daily habit of spiritual reading will help you grow more in your faith.
So you see, not having a lot of spare time doesn’t have to hold you back from growing closer to God. The amount of time is not as important as your willingness to spend time with God in prayer and spend time reading more about Him. Have a heart open to God’s guidance and love and making time to spend with Him each day will be joyful and not feel like one more thing you need to fit into your day.
You can learn how to grow in your faith even if you think you are too busy.
Remember, God is the Creator of all. He created time. He created you. He knows the responsibilities you have each day. God wants to communicate with you and wants for you to spend time with Him. He will help you to make time each day to spend time with Him. Ask Him for help. Trust in Him.
More resources to help you learn how to grow in your faith even if you think you are too busy.
In these videos, Fr. Mike Schmitz has some great advice and insights on making time to pray and tips for praying. I hope you find them helpful like I did!
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