Greetings Parents!
Quality or quantity? My boys prefer to cross items off of a chore list more quickly than that prefer to have a chore be more perfectly completed. Measuring cooking ingredients to the 32th of teaspoon places quality over quantity. We want quality products but do enjoy being able to have many. We want our children to have quality experiences, but also many of them
Finding a balance, or knowing when one is more important than another can be difficult to discern, especially for boys with a chore list.
In these times, our older parents are isolated, but some are beginning to question, if this will carry on for more than a year, is the price worth it? Is the chance of their lives being cut short worth not being with the people who have been making their lives meaningful? Is there other meaning to be found during this time? That's an individual answer! But for those who have the hope of heaven, death is not as frightening as for those who don't know God. And the closer one is to God, the "easier" it might be to find both meaning and direction
As parents, we benefit from a close relationship with God when seeking the best options for our children. Right now, their physical health is key, but the long isolation has many branching out in small steps for other activities and ways to get them together with friends - safely.
Developing the relationship with the Divine often requires a balance between quality and quantity as well. Spending time with God is necessary to have any relationship. But, like a marriage, or good parenting, there is time when we are together but not entirely focused on one another, and there is time when our interactions are deeply meaningful. As a parent, the interruptions to serious prayer time are innumerable and, at times, beyond coincidence! There is one who wishes us not to speak. So time with God often becomes a casual conversation as my mind can manage in the midst of caring for other duties. We have long stretches when the casual is the best we can manage, enabling some quantity of conversation with Him.
Sometimes I pray the rosary, but there are so many distractions, that focus on the words is greatly lacking. I used to give up, planning to pray another time, but this led to days without any prayer. To provide some God-time, I sacrificed quality to pray as best I could while fulfilling other duties - dishes, laundry, etc. God appreciates all effort and does want us to fulfill our earthly duties. Eventually quality time developed - more by "God-incidence" than by my efforts. It seems God had a Plan for our relationship that He made possible, so long as I stayed the course as best I could. When I was silent with Him, however, nothing happened.
Hug your children tight - and help them seek quantity and quality time with God. Help them converse with God casually during daily life, and more formally for highlighting the sacredness, awesomeness, and power of God. The power is a hope and comfort tous when life's struggles are beyond our correction.
-- Linda Bader, Coordinator of Religious Education
P.S. Did you know... The choir of angels called "Angels" is the one closest to humanity? The word means, "messenger," and these angels are the ones who bring God's Word most often to humanity. Angels from every choir level assist humans to grow more perfectly close to God, but those at this level are our primary heavenly brethren acting constantly on our behalf! Remember to thank them!
