Planning the day well

Have you ever considered waking up in the morning the biggest battle of the day? Here's some food for thought:

"You've got to get up every morning with determination if you're going to go to bed with satisfaction." George Horace Lorimer

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I've been thinking about time lately, and how to spend it well (and why spend it well). And today I bumped into our chaplain at Holy Family Chapel in Eastwood. He asked me if I worked nearby and told me how happy he was to see me attending mass regularly, and then he said something that made me think--he said, in reference to the effort of attending daily mass, "How hardworking!"

I really like how that comment resounded--hardworking. When you say "I try to attend mass daily," people usually assume you have nothing else to do--and then here comes someone who says you're "hardworking" for doing the very same thing.

How does this fit into "spending time well"?

Working hard doesn't only mean you plow on without a moment's rest (you're not an ox). What if that leaves you so tired that you can't churn up good work anymore? A day well-spent requires planning. It needs enough hours for serious work, rest (which is another word for "less demanding work"), family time, friend time and quiet time. Mass is the time in which to hinge all those times--on weekdays, it takes just 30 mins, but I think this 30mins gives a person the right motivation to get all the things done properly that day.

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Oh hey, it's St. Josemaria Escriva's feast day on June 26! His teachings on serving God in the midst of the world will always be helpful to every worker. Here's basically his answer to the question: why should time be spent well?

"How short indeed is the time of our passing through this world! For the true Christian these words ring deep down in his heart as a reproach to his lack of generosity, and as a constant invitation to be loyal. Brief indeed is our time for loving, for giving, for making atonement. It would be very wrong, therefore, for us to waste it, or to cast this treasure irresponsibly overboard. We mustn’t squander this period of the world’s history that God has entrusted to each one of us." (Friends of God)

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Lastly, just like Corporate Cat in the photo above, let's also not waste time on shenanigans--particularly, our own.

:-)