"Me Time"

Searching for Jesus

The reflections I read about today's Gospel (Mark 1:29-39) were about knowing that God gave you a purpose, or that we should always seek Jesus. Even Pope Francis got in on it:

The Homily was given by the Bishop through a recording (Bishop's Appeal Sunday), and he mentioned how we should all search for Jesus. He said that some people find Him at an early age, and some search their whole lives. I fall into that last category. Sometimes I feel like we're playing "hide & seek"...I find him and have a great relationship with him, but then I go through a dry period & I feel like I lose him for a time. Are you with me?

Not my take

Interestingly, though, that's not what I got out of the Readings. In the First Reading  (Job 7:1-4, 6-7), Job is talking about his sufferings. I remember those nights that seemed to go on forever...walking around the room or rocking a newborn. Just me & my baby for what seemed like hours, especially since I was so tired and just wanted to go to bed. Seeing the sun coming up was such a relief. Then it would seem like a blink of an eye that the day would be gone and I would pray for the baby to sleep all night. Thankfully, I didn't have very many of those nights; maybe that's why I remember them so vividly.
Fast forward to now...the babies are grown men and those sleepless nights are a distant memory. Every now and then, though, I will have a sleepless night thanks to the dogs. When I'm up, I'm up and there are nights when I can't go back to sleep. Nights when I lay back down, staring at the clock, knowing I have to get up in "X" amount of hours. Those nights don't seem as long as they did when I had babies to comfort. Oh, but the days! There just isn't enough time in the day to accomplish all I need or want to.

But I'm so tired!

In the Gospel, Jesus healed a bunch of people, then got up at the crack of dawn to pray. He had to be dog-tired after all of the healing he did the day before, yet he got up to spend time with God. Those mornings when I just want to stay in bed? Yeah, I'm going to have to remember this Gospel.
My parents were almost always the first to get up in the mornings. They never stayed in bed because they were tired. If they were still in bed after we got up, they were ill, and they were never ill. (A slight embellishment...they were rarely ill!) Once they were empty-nesters, they attended Daily Mass every day except Sat. (mom said that was their day to "sleep in"...sometimes until 8:00!) My mom would wake up around 6:00 every morning, go into the kitchen, and pray and read the day's readings. My father was raised on farms, so he had always been an "up and at 'em" kind of guy. There wasn't a lazy bone in either of their bodies. But I know they had to be tired. Just like Jesus was.

Early to bed; early to rise

What kept them going? It had to be the promise of salvation. Some mornings I can't wait to get up and see what the day's Readings are. Other mornings, I want to hit the snooze and take just another 15 minutes before I get up. Then I remember the passage in Matthew Kelly's Resisting Happiness where he talks about hitting the snooze button being the first resistance of the day. So, I get up and get on with my day. There's definitely something about being the first one up in the house. It's always been my "me time". Just me and the dogs, trying to get my act together for the day. My days definitely go smoother when I have that time to pray and read. Some mornings there isn't a whole lot of reflection going on, and on my Adoration days sometimes I'm a little slack because I know I'll have an hour that evening. Some days I have more to pray about than others because, well...3 grown boys. The worrying never stops, y'all.  I can definitely "feel it" when I don't have that time in the mornings. After reading the Gospel this morning, I guess even Jesus needed his "me time"!
So...what about you? When is your "me time"?