In a meeting with my pastor about our parish, he said: “If we don’t fix things, the bishop will close this parish. We have to get more young families engaged.”

 Caught off guard and growing in concern, I asked him what activities the parish was currently doing.

 “Quilting.”

 “Quilting? And…?” I winced, praying for more.

 He sighed and said, “Just quilting.”

This struck me deeply because it drove home the point that we can’t confuse activity with progress. We can be doing a million things, but are they the right things? A rocking chair is constantly moving, but not getting anywhere.

I have the same struggle in my own life. Our schedules are full of so many things, but as followers of Christ, we are called to go deeper—to focus on the best things. Jesus calls us not just to do activities but to live in greater communion with Him and with one another.

In Christifideles Laici John Paul II tells us that we aren’t just made to fill our schedule with busyness, but to choose to live with the best things. Jesus Christ is the best of everything. He challenges us: are our clubs, groups, and activities growing our relationship with Jesus and each other? 

So what do we do? For everything we do, big or small, we need to look at them from the perspective of our relationship with Christ. Is how we are spending your time helping us pray better? Is it helping us to better coworkers, parents, children, friends?

So that’s our invitation; to take hold of our schedule and pause for a moment so to let Christ fill us with Himself. His presence is the response to busyness, and the fruit of his presence is peace, calm, and hope.