catholicsphere

Time. We seem to have less and less of it these days.

Whether it’s working longer hours, commuting greater distances to work, working more days, running our children to various extra-curricular activities or just being less productive, we have little time left for leisure.

We even go so far as to design our homes to reflect our lack of time. Take a look at the typical suburban neighborhood these days. You’ll find homes with a front stoop, instead of a large wrap-around porch. You’ll find small yards surrounding large homes; homes that are empty more than half of every day.

Many Americans today just don’t plan to have leisure time. They don’t have time to sit on their front porch, sipping iced tea or lemonade. They don’t have time to swing on a hammock in their backyard, surrounded by nature.

Some might notice, though, that there are elaborate patios or decks in those backyards. Many of those patios are used only for occasionally cooking on the grill, and perhaps one annual barbecue. Not many spend regular time out there.

Alright … that’s the sad reality. So, what is to be done?

Find ways to be more productive in the tasks you currently have on your plate. Find ways to eliminate unnecessary tasks and consolidate tasks when you can.

For instance, one mother used to go to the grocery store several times per week to pick up various items. By creating a list, using sale fliers, and planning her errands and meals, she cut that down to 1 time per week. And, found an added bonus: she saved money because unneeded “impulse” items didn’t make their way into the cart (both because of the list and because of the lack of multiple opportunities).

Control the number of activities that you and your children are involved in. Sure, if you have many children, it can be a full time job getting each of them to the right place at the right time. Do you carpool? Talk to other parents at the school or activity and get to know them. See about setting up a carpool schedule to get them to and from practices (and games, if you can’t get to them because of conflicts with another child’s activity at the same time). Perhaps even limit the source of all your children’s activities — for instance, maybe your children will only be involved in school activities, which might help resolve some conflicts simply because the school helps with some of the scheduling of resources, etc.

Or, maybe its time to simplify your life.

The bottom line is that we need leisure time. “God made the Sabbath [rest] for man, not man for the Sabbath”. Try to find ways to get that Sabbath rest in each week — as a family if even remotely possible.

[tags]leisure, stress, rest, time, catholic, faith, life, sabbath[/tags]