It's a fine line...the desire to plan a great weekend retreat or spend time planning all the great little details. The handbook specifically tells us to not focus our energies on the planning yet, but to plan on renewing our bond, our dedication to Jesus, our efforts in becoming the women we were meant to be.
And that holds true for all things in life. I can see the days when I'm too concerned with the planning of the day, the To-Do list, that I don't take the time to see what God has set before me. If the house needs cleaning, if there are too many errands to run, I miss the sunrises and sunsets. If I don't take the time to listen to my children, if I forget to slow down and take a deep breath and pray, I miss the little bits of memories that would make me rich. The more I run around town trying to 'do it all', the less time I spend on my knees.
Our group, under the encouragement of our Lay Director, has decided to read the bible daily - together. The CRHP handbook tells us that daily scripture reading is very important, that God's Word is the key to unlocking our minds and opening up our hearts. The Catholic Church has the awesome 3-year reading plan - the daily readings for the bible are set out for the global church. If you do all the readings, you will have read the entire bible in three years.
We knew, as a group, that we wanted to read an entire book of the bible together as opposed to the thematic sections from several different books of the bible that the church has laid out in its daily readings. One of our members suggested starting with Paul's letters, stating that because he was a persecutor of Christians turned evangelist, his writing would be perfect for us. So here we go! Starting with Romans, we are reading three chapters a day.
The daily reading is the plan. The intention with which we read is our duty. The conversation we glean with God from the readings is the reward.
My dad always said, “Plans are nothing, but planning is everything.” That took a while to sink in, but when it did, the light went on, the picture became clear, and my life transformed from a series of failures to a trail of successes. The act of planning, of making goals and working toward them is more important than the plan itself. If I plan on running a marathon and work out a schedule to train for it – that’s planning. But if the plan fails, if I don’t finish first – or don’t finish at all – the plan failed. But the planning allows for other alternatives. I’m stronger now for having trained. I’ve adapted a rigorous schedule into my life and I’m more focused. I might not have a medal to hang around my neck, but I have the satisfaction of knowing that I did something to better myself.
That’s what this renewal process is – a marathon. I’m pacing myself to be a good runner each day, to follow my trainer’s advice, to eat well and sleep well. If I fail at the little things, I can pick myself up, check one off on the “I-learned-that-the-hard-way” list, and move forward. I’m planning on being accepted into heaven. Whatever God has planned for me between now and then is entirely up to him. There is no turning back now.
The following website lists the Catholic Daily Readings.
http://www.ourcatholicfaith.org/frames/readings.html
Did you know that if you went to any Catholic Church anywhere in the world, the readings would be the same? Isn’t that amazing? We talk about becoming global, sharing across boundaries – and here the Catholic Church is already doing that. I find great comfort in the fact that if my family is out of town, we can go to the nearest Catholic Church and hear the same readings we would at our home parish.
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