{"id":8572,"date":"2011-12-29T08:00:39","date_gmt":"2011-12-29T14:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.austincnm.com\/?p=8572"},"modified":"2011-12-22T22:27:43","modified_gmt":"2011-12-23T04:27:43","slug":"making-time-for-god-in-the-present","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2011\/12\/making-time-for-god-in-the-present\/","title":{"rendered":"Making Time for God in the Present"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"Is<\/a>

Is God penciled in on a permanent spot on your calendar?<\/p><\/div>\n

The New Year is almost here. Have you done everything you planned to this year? Are your goals set for next year? Have you compared your state-of-me with your peers, coworkers, friends, to make sure you\u2019re making the same strides that they are?In the midst of our reminiscing of the past and our dreaming in the future, is God, calling for relationship with us in the present. Savoring the present is something I\u2019d like to work on in the new year.<\/p>\n

Why is this important? Because God gives us every second as a gift, but we can\u2019t take any of these seconds for granted. The future that we plan for may never come. \u00a0And the memories of past events, while we can relive them in our mind, or try to imagine them going another way, are done. There\u2019s another reason too – because we don\u2019t know when our last opportunity to pray will come.<\/p>\n

Recently someone in my life was tragically killed. It\u2019s hard to accept that a child or someone in an accident would be taken so suddenly, or be in so much pain. It\u2019s harder to accept when we realize how easily that life could have been ours. But we have faith that God has a purpose for us, even if we don\u2019t know his mission.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Presentation<\/a>

Simeon meets the Child Jesus - How blessed are we to celebrate this Child always, and in a special way at Christmas! (Photo from Flikr http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/paullew\/4324030319\/<\/a>)<\/p><\/div>\n

Simeon in today’s Gospel reading<\/a>\u00a0knew that he would see the Christ before his death. We don\u2019t (always) have the benefit of knowing what to-dos we\u2019ll finish or what milestones we\u2019ll reach before we die. But we DO have the good news of salvation through Christ! And we life our lives praying that God\u2019s will be done, and that we strive to do our best to glorify Him until that day.<\/p>\n

Knowing that you don\u2019t know when you are going to die, what do you want to know that you\u2019ve done for yourself on the path to holiness and sainthood? For me, I want to know that I have thanked God for His blessings and prayed for my family and for others, and that I have expressed sorrow for my sins. Make sure that your goals to holiness are built into your daily life. They will build your relationship with God in the present, and remind you that regardless of what has happened in the past or what will happen in the future, that God is with you in the present, in the now, and that even as you call to Him, He gifts your with His attention and love.<\/p>\n

How do we savor the present? One way is to set \u201ctrigger prayers\u201d. Praying when you wake up, when you eat, and when you hear an ambulance \u00a0may be familiar. What about praying before you drive the car, or when you begin your day at work or school? A prayer before I start cooking would definitely not hurt! Praying throughout the day helps remind us that God is with me even in the mundane details of my life. How do you keep God present in the present?<\/p>\n

I\u2019m writing this post a few days before it will be posted because I will be out of town. There\u2019s a chance that an accident could happen where this will be the last thing I write! But as I type, I pray to God that His will be done in me, and that I accept all that He has for me. I pray that on my last day, rather than thinking about the past I had or the future that won\u2019t be, that I will talk with Jesus, my most intimate friend and tell Him, like the psalmists and saints and singers, is \u201cBlessed be Your Name!\u201d<\/p>\n

Halo Tip # 1: \u00a0So I\u2019m trying to savor each day, and that\u2019s started with recognizing each day as gift. A quick morning prayer is an easy way to do this – before your feet touch the ground, thank God for the new day and ask Him to guide you. An additional prayer that I picked up (I can\u2019t remember if someone told me this or if I read it) is a little request to God that He leads me to do His will in such a way that the Devil gets scared when I get going!<\/p>\n

Halo Tip # 2: Does your cell phone have a reminder or alarm setting? Set a time of day (or several times) for prayer and have your phone remind you. You may even be able to set the ringer as the Chaplet, St. Michael prayer, rosary, or another ring tone.<\/p>\n

Halo Tip # 3: The past and future aren’t bad to remember and dream about! Maybe you can focus some prayer while you look through a photo album – thank God for the good times and the blessing of His creation which we can enjoy on vacation!<\/p>\n

Note: Reflections in this blog are my own and do not represent the positions of my employer.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The New Year is almost here. Have you done everything you planned to this year? Are your goals set for next year? Have you compared your state-of-me with your peers, coworkers, friends, to make sure you\u2019re making the same strides that they are?In the midst of our reminiscing of the past and our dreaming in… [Read More]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3,4,90],"tags":[55,50,37,74],"class_list":{"0":"post-8572","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-acnm","7":"category-blog","8":"category-faith-blog","9":"tag-catholic-2","10":"tag-faith","11":"tag-gospel","12":"tag-prayer","13":"entry","14":"has-post-thumbnail"},"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":186756,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2015\/12\/sunrise-dark-faith-advent-brightness-christmas\/","url_meta":{"origin":8572,"position":0},"title":"Sunrise: through the dark faith of Advent to the brightness of Christmas","author":"Shawn Rain Chapman","date":"December 15, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Traveling through Advent with grief this year has led to me to soul search about what Christmas is, and, in the process, to notice similarities between the journey of Advent into Christmas and the stages of the soul's progression into the heart of God. \u00a0According to Carmelite spirituality, \u00a0the soul\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Faith"","block_context":{"text":"Faith","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/blog\/faith-blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"photo by Renee Bork","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/12016594_10205918857824426_849206572_n-550x413.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/12016594_10205918857824426_849206572_n-550x413.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/12016594_10205918857824426_849206572_n-550x413.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":504538,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2017\/10\/god-punishing-us-nuclear-war-meteors\/","url_meta":{"origin":8572,"position":1},"title":"Is God Punishing Us with Nuclear War and Meteors","author":"Deacon Guadalupe Rodriguez","date":"October 28, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"This article is a continuation of two previous articles (Is God Punishing Us with Hurricanes and Earthquakes? and Is God Punishing Us with Fires and Shootings?). 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