after watching the season finale of Lost, I found myself with about 45 minutes before i had to leave the house to kristy’s for a memorial day bbq. i finally finished polishing off all the season finales of my TV watching schedule and the Mets game wasn’t on until 4pm, long after i needed to be up in mountain view. i had a marathon reading of The Da Vinci Code yesterday, finishing the whole book in a day and a half, so i wasn’t in the mood to start a new book–my stack currently contains five books right now. then i shifted my eyes over to the huge stack of magazines that is constantly growing and decided it was time to start going through them.

As I was reading an old edition of Commonweal, a thought suddenly came into my head. why did i feel the need to do anything at all? why must i constantly be doing something, and not just one thing, but multiple things? it’s hard for me to just sit down and watch TV; i feel the need to be doing something else too, whether it be ironing my clothes, reading the newspaper, surfing the web, cleaning the house, etc. whatever happened to just being?

i heard a phrase at a youth ministry workshop a few years ago that’s really stuck with me. while talking about teenagers today and how busy they always seem to be, one of our presenters said this:

we are human beings, not human doings

how profound! there are certainly times in my life where i feel like a human doing. i get antsy if i’m not trying to do two things at once. i have to force myself to make time each day to meditate, to just sit in the silence and just pray. and even when i do it, my mind wanders and thoughts about what i have to do later arise. i’m always trying to figure out what i need to do, what i have to do, when it needs to be done by.

whatever happened to living for the moment? letting tomorrow worry about tomorrow? not storing up treasures on earth that wither and decay? whatever happened to just being?

the easter season comes to a conclusion monday (after pentecost) and ordinary time resumes again. ordinary time lasts until advent, so it basically covers the entire summer and start of fall. it is a time where we focus on the ministry of Jesus and try to find God in our daily lives. there are no high holy days, no big feast days, nothing to prepare for, nothing to get stressed over. it is a time where we can just be. take a walk and smell the roses. spend some quality time with those you care for, relish every moment you can just sit with your loved ones and let them know what they mean to you. take the plunge and do something that you’ve always wanted to do but were too afraid/anxious/worried to try.

but most of all, thank God for each and every breath you take, for each ray of sunshine that reaches your eyes, for every day that you wake up feeling refreshed and new. you’re parents always told you to say thank you for a gift and the present certainly is one.