Denver Catholic

11 DENVER CATHOLIC | DECEMBER 2020 1 S TO P R E A D I N G T H E N E W S A L L DAY. It's making you anxious and crazy, and that's great news for the media companies and their bottom lines! If you must con- sume it, either for work or due to an incorrigible personal curiosity (guilty), then pick a set time like you would for an appointment or meeting, set an alarm in your phone or calendar, and restrict yourself to a sane amount of information. I've heard it said, anec- dotally, that we should spend as many minutes in prayer as we do scrolling our newsfeeds each day. Gulp. 2 W H I CH L E A D S M E TO... S O CI A L M E D I A . Do you really need it? I mean really, really? Could you hire it out if it's for business? Use a third party app like HootSuite to post for you remotely? I read a life-chang- ing book a few years ago called Deep Work by Cal Newport, and it forever changed the way I thought about spending my time. His followup title, Digital Minimalism, is even more rel- evant to the topic at hand. He advo- cates for constantly asking oneself, "am I gaining something meaningful from the time I spend in these apps... or are they gaining something from me?" If you're honest with yourself, as I've had to be, I suspect you'll find little there worth salvaging. 3 P R I O R ITIZ E P R AY E R . If you're stumbling out of bed when your kids do, set your alarm five minutes earlier than their earliest intrusion. If you're commuting and listening to talk radio or jamming out, try 15 minutes of silence instead. It is totally possible to do Lectio Divina with a toddler on your lap, or to practice meditative prayer while sitting in traffic. It's only a matter of putting ourselves in God's presence – He does the rest. 4 D O N'T N EG L EC T YO U R P R I M A RY VO C ATI O N . If 2020 taught us anything, it's how much of life happens between our own four walls. Wounds that needed to heal were exposed, oftentimes painfully. Ruptures in need of repair were brought to the forefront. Conversations we'd been avoiding for fear of conflict or out of complacency were suddenly... had. And however it may have felt, that's not a bad thing. We are here on earth to grow in holiness and charity through our vocations: our specific, personal path which leads us to God. The person you promised to love and cherish, the children you're raising together, the religious community you made vows to – they're the way and the means by which we'll get to heaven. Or not. God isn't going to ask me how clean my floors were or how many books I sold, but I think He is going to crane His neck and look for my husband and children, asking whether I did my best to bring them along. 5 CH O O S E G R ATIT U D E . In times of poverty or plenty, when toilet paper abundantly lines the shelves, and when nary a Clorox wipe is to be found... at the end of the day, the only thing I can truly control is my own attitude towards the life I've been handed that day. And so, at the end of the day in our family, we give thanks, simply and specifically, recognizing that God is the giver of all good gifts. And if the gifts aren't good? Well, we work towards the belief that "He works all things for good for those who love him." In the words of St. John Paul II, a personal hero of mine, "remember the past with grati- tude. Live the present with enthusiasm. Look forward to the future with confidence."

• Cover