Priorities

I heard someone say that there is no such thing as lazy people, just messed up priorities. Whether you agree or disagree, it gives a new angle to laziness. Someone who watches Netflix before chores values movies over a clean house. Someone who willingly skips Mass or personal prayer puts themselves above God. If someone wants to play their sport in college, but doesn’t practice as much as playing video games, that person will be watching the games from the crowd.
These may sound harsh. I mean, people say ignorance is bliss...but knowledge is power. Five years from now, who’s going to be making more of an impact in the world, the person in bliss watching Netflix, or the one who put their future goals as their priority?
Now I’m not saying Netflix and such are evil, but what do you value most? Does the time you spend match up with your priorities? If I want my health to be a priority, but don’t workout and eat healthy, my health isn’t really a priority. I want to make God my priority. Over the last month I’ve been going to Mass twice a week and praying five minutes a day...compared to the time I’ve been watching TV, it doesn’t come close. So I’m trying to pray whenever I get in my car, wash my hands, etc. Little reminders to keep God at the top of my list.
Be bold, plan for success. Will you fall short from time to time? Yes. But make that effort. Your future is not shaped by what you do tomorrow, it’s shaped by what you do today. So don’t put off until tomorrow what you can accomplish today.

Study Tips

With high school midterms beginning next week, I figured I’d pass on a few ideas to be more effective while you study.

Clear a space — When we have clutter around us, our brain typically feels cluttered. Study with nothing else but the necessities on you desk/table.

Find a place that works—A coffee shop, the kitchen table, the basement. Doing work on a bed makes it very easy to doze off.

Eliminate the threat —Put your phone in a different room on silent. The best way to avoid distractions is to eliminate them.

Start small—Rather than trying to learn about the semester learned in history, break it down to time periods of 50 years or so.

Write it out—Write out the title of each chapter or section. Starting with an overview of what you’ll be studying simplifies things because now you know what you’re working with.

Read out loud—Seeing and hearing causes you to draw on two senses rather than just one.
Quiz each other—Ask a friend or family member to quiz you. It’s better to get the question wrong in front of a friend rather than on the test.

Space it out—Don’t try to study for 5 hours. If you’re in the zone, don’t mess with it. But take breaks, go outside, do pushups, get the blood flowing so that when you get back to studying, you’re ready.

Get colorful—Using the same color pens are boring. Writing in different colors can make certain things pop just because it’s a new look. I suggest coordinating the colors (Math—red, Geography—Green, etc).

Pray—Pray before you start, when you get distracted, and when you’re finished. God wants you to succeed. So bringing him into your studying will relax you and allow you to focus better.

To Risk or Not to Risk

The man, the woman who risks nothing

does nothing, has nothing, is nothing.

To laugh is to risk appearing the fool,

To weep is to risk appearing sentimental,

To reach out to another is to risk involvement,

To explore feelings is to risk exposing our true self,

To place your ideas, your dreams, before the crowd is to risk loss,
To love is to risk not being loved in return,
To live is to risk dying,
To hope is to risk despair,
To try at all is to risk failure.
But risk we must,
Because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing.

- Author Unknown

We want to succeed, but not as bad as we do not want to fail. Have you ever tried to play a sport and failed miserably? Or held a baby, and he started crying and you’ve never held one since? or maybe you’ve been wanting to ask a girl out, but not as bad as you don’t want to be rejected. When there’s a possibility of success, there is a possibility of it not being successful. But it doesn’t mean that we failed. Michael Jordan, the best basketball player of all time, said, “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” The kid may start crying, but what if he doesn’t? Maybe she says no, but until you ask, there’s no way she can say yes.

As this new year begins, don’t let things hold you back. Mark Twain wrote, "Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” Don’t miss out on your life because of a simple failed attempt.

Are Some of Us Beyond's God's Forgiveness?

     God is goodness itself and everyone knows it. How can I make such a bold accusation? It’s simple. Most of the nonbelievers I talk to admit that God wouldn’t want them anyway because of their past. It’s said in a joking way, but there is a big element of truth to this statement. A lot of people feel shame at the thought of God. This is because we don’t see God as God; we see God as having human emotions. Even though we hear God is love, we think “how can someone who’s perfect really love me after I lied, cheated, and stole from Him? I wouldn’t take me back.” Every time we sin, we think it’s bigger than God’s forgiveness.
     Many of us feel that we are damaged goods. Maybe you stole from your brother; oh wait, that was Jacob. Maybe you killed somebody; oh wait, that was Moses. Maybe you committed adultery and killed somebody; oh wait, that was King David. Maybe you beat and murdered Christians; oh wait, that was St. Paul. These four men are four of the most influential people in the Bible. Without Jacob, there would be no nation of Israel. Without Moses, the Israelites would have remained in slavery. Jesus was a descendant of King David. St. Paul wrote most of the New Testament and helped lead the early Christians. God didn’t see these men as garbage or enemies, He looked at them, smiled, and said, “Hey Holy Spirit, check out what I can do with this."
     Okay, maybe it didn’t go down exactly like that, but you get the idea. None of these men earned the tasks God gave them, but God didn’t hesitate to entrust His people with each of them. You may feel that your sin is great, but know that God’s mercy is so much greater. A decent comparison is your sin is like a piece of sand, and God’s mercy is the ocean. If you give your sin to God, that sin will be washed away, never to be seen again. You are made anew…how will you live your newly forgiven life?

 

The Catholic Tracker

    Activity trackers like the Fitbit are one of the hottest Christmas gifts this year. It keeps track of your activity throughout the day. It collects the data to show you what days you're more active. And just wearing it can be a nice reminder to use the stairs rather than the elevator because you’ll get more points.
    Imagine if there was a Catholic tracker you could get. You get points for praying, doing good deeds, participating in Mass, etc. It could remind you to pray for the bully who picked on you or the jerk who cut you off in traffic rather than cussing them out. When you’re at school, and you see someone struggling with their books, it would remind you to help them. If someone needs a ride, you offer to take them. At the end of the day, you could see how many points you’ve got. You can look at the data over the last few months and see what days you’re succeeding or having setbacks in.
    The greatest thing about God is that he can’t love us any more or less for the things we do. The data collected by this Catholic tracker would be used for your personal growth. God wants you to be the best version of yourself. He doesn’t want you to imitate someone else or to be mediocre. He wants you to be great. The challenges we face each day can either take us down, or we can use them as a stepping stone to grow closer to God. Tracking ourselves can be the encouragement to keep going, or the swift kick in the butt we need to get back on track. Getting to Heaven is a marathon, not a sprint.

Private VS Personal

Private and personal are interchanged by many of us. Whether you say “personal life” or “private life” people understand you. But private and personal can be very different. For example, let’s say you’re dating someone you’re embarrassed about. You just do things one on one. You don’t invite that person to any events. When you see them with friends around, you act like you’re not dating. That’s a very private relationship. A personal relationship, on the other hand, is when you’re dating someone who you truly admire and respect. You invite each other to events and don’t try to hide the relationship. This is the relationship God wants to have with each one of us.
If anyone should be embarrassed about our relationship with God, it’s God. But no matter how many times we ignore him, he’s still waiting for us patiently. When people read Matthew 6:5-6, people can interpret it to mean God doesn’t want us to share him publicly, but nothing could be farther from the truth. To keep the dating example, nobody wants to see you and you're date all over each other. That’s fake love, and it’s obvious. All that does is pushes friends away into acquaintances because all you were looking to do was gloat and show off your prize (side note, you’d be treating your date like an object rather than a person. Hate isn’t the opposite of love, using someone is #FutureArticle).
Don’t be scared to share your relationship with Christ. But if you are, that’s kind of awesome. How? You have prayer ammo for a long time. Just be like, “God, I’m scared of sharing our relationship with others because…” and fill in the blank. Look up the answers in scripture, ask your priest, your youth minister, your parents, a friend, etc. A journey of 1000 miles begins with a single step…are you ready to take that first step?

The Game of Life

    Life is a game and God is the coach...wait, what? Let’s compare us to a swimmer. A swimmer’s goal is to improve throughout the season. They do this through hours and hours of practice and constant critiquing by their coach. If a swimmer has great upper body strength, but isn’t using their legs, a good coach will focus on getting them to use their legs (perhaps through a use of a kickboard). A swimmer needs to constantly be improving to continue to be competitive. If someone is content with how they swim at age 8, don’t expect them to win in high school. Life is no different. God wants us to work on our weaknesses to grow into the best version of ourselves.

    2 Corinthians 11:30 says “I will boast in my weakness.” This is because just like a swimmer relies on their swim coach to perfect their stroke, our weaknesses causes us to rely on God to help us correct our shortcomings. We have the freewill to accept his critiques or to dismiss him. But if you had the best coach in the game, wouldn’t you want to listen to them?

    How do we do this? Just like in swimming, you work on one thing at a time. If you struggle with eating excessively, being on Instagram too long, not doing your homework, staying up late, and yelling at your family, pick only one to work on. Set goals. Commit to finishing your homework before you go on social media. Or perhaps just work on getting to bed at a reasonable hour. Maybe count to 10 before responding to family when you’re upset. Once we are able to overcome one of our weaknesses, we feel empowered to tackle another and another. As our weaknesses decrease, we are preparing to accomplish our life goal...and that’s to get to Heaven. The path may be filled with bumps, curves, and rough patches, but these struggles allow us to fully experience the beauty that awaits us at the Pearly Gates (Revelation 21:21).