Pray, don't panic! by Amy Nash
From Amy Nash . . .
Ok, so this has very VERY quickly become a crazy time we're living in... it's surreal actually. Is all of this really happening? My life was radically different last week & I have no clue what it's going to look like next week, next month, this summer?! For most of us, the uncertainties are super scary & I hate trying to answer the question my kids ask me every night before bed, "What are we doing tomorrow, mom?"
Like you, our days were jam-packed with activities, appointments, meetings, school work, sports. In working with our parish teens, one of the things I love the most is taking them on spiritual retreats where they get the opportunity to leave all of these things behind for a time, take time to look at their lives, their faith, their relationships, then make adjustments, become more equipped with the tools of the faith, and enter back into their fast-paced life with a fresh perspective on the things that are important, the things that aren't. They also intentionally reintroduce prayer into their daily habits.
Though it's not of our choosing, we've entered into retreat mode.
Yes, there will be a time when we pick back up what we were asked to leave behind; we'll go back to normal life, but hopefully with a fresh perspective and with really good new habits. It's really important to acknowledge that this is NOT normal life. Retreats are not normal life (though we love them!), pandemics are not normal life either. The Lord will move us into normal life, but this isn't it... we're just on retreat.
Not that long ago, my family entered into two very difficult years of suffering & circumstances that were outside of our choosing. When we were in it, we never claimed it as "normal life"... there was nothing normal about it, there was no way we could live the rest of our life in that state, & we just knew that the Lord was preparing & leading us into the normal life we find ourselves in now, but that, nor this, is "the new normal."
The Lord certainly will move us through this, but it will require patience & perseverance on our part. And when I think back on those two years we spent in quarantine & in isolation as a family, there are actually things that I really have missed. I was reminded this week that we get to lean back into those things that strengthened us, especially spiritually, as a family back then. I thought I'd share a few with you!
Whenever we were tempted to panic (which was often when walking through life-threatening illnesses), we'd turn to prayer instead. Here are a few things we'd do that may come in handy for your family when panic starts to set in:
1) Create an atmosphere of prayer & praise - play worship music softly in the background throughout the day (worship music is full of scriptural encouragement!), leave books lying around about the lives of the Saints (your kids will randomly pick 'em up once in awhile... yes, they will), put Saint cards around your house, make holy water available, maybe take your crucifix off you wall and place it on your dinning table to make it more noticeable for awhile. The point is, it's easier to "pray without ceasing"(1Thes.5:16) if you've got lots of reminders to do so! Whenever we take teens on retreats, we always set a holy atmosphere & it helps them pray & release their panic as soon as they enter the retreat space.
2) Invite the Lord in when things get hard or feel heavy. It didn't matter what time of the day it was, whenever my husband got really scared or panicky in his suffering through cancer, even if it was 2am, we made a plan to intentionally praise the Lord & usher in Jesus' light when things were really dark. We made that commitment to each other. We would sing, read Psalm 91 aloud (we read this Psalm every night together - it's powerful), and the little kids would dance around in their PJs... we did this until the atmosphere changed. It worked every time!
3) Pick a Catholic tool! We are so blessed as Catholics to have so many tangible ways to pray. So if one isn't fitting right, try another one! Light a holy candle, have you kids pick a novena to start to ask a Saint for help, pray the rosary (maybe even just a decade) & invite Mary in to help you, do the examination of conscience before bed, read the daily readings (we do this every morning together), or take on our personal favorite - the Divine Mercy Chaplet! There's no better way to invite in the Lord's mercy into trying situations.
I hope sharing a bit of my story will be helpful. Here's to a good retreat to you all! My family & I are praying for you.
Blessings!
Amy Nash
(Helpful links: The Divine Mercy, Novenas, Lives of the Saints, Psalm 91, Praying the Rosary as a Family)
Ok, so this has very VERY quickly become a crazy time we're living in... it's surreal actually. Is all of this really happening? My life was radically different last week & I have no clue what it's going to look like next week, next month, this summer?! For most of us, the uncertainties are super scary & I hate trying to answer the question my kids ask me every night before bed, "What are we doing tomorrow, mom?"
Like you, our days were jam-packed with activities, appointments, meetings, school work, sports. In working with our parish teens, one of the things I love the most is taking them on spiritual retreats where they get the opportunity to leave all of these things behind for a time, take time to look at their lives, their faith, their relationships, then make adjustments, become more equipped with the tools of the faith, and enter back into their fast-paced life with a fresh perspective on the things that are important, the things that aren't. They also intentionally reintroduce prayer into their daily habits.
Though it's not of our choosing, we've entered into retreat mode.
Yes, there will be a time when we pick back up what we were asked to leave behind; we'll go back to normal life, but hopefully with a fresh perspective and with really good new habits. It's really important to acknowledge that this is NOT normal life. Retreats are not normal life (though we love them!), pandemics are not normal life either. The Lord will move us into normal life, but this isn't it... we're just on retreat.
Not that long ago, my family entered into two very difficult years of suffering & circumstances that were outside of our choosing. When we were in it, we never claimed it as "normal life"... there was nothing normal about it, there was no way we could live the rest of our life in that state, & we just knew that the Lord was preparing & leading us into the normal life we find ourselves in now, but that, nor this, is "the new normal."
The Lord certainly will move us through this, but it will require patience & perseverance on our part. And when I think back on those two years we spent in quarantine & in isolation as a family, there are actually things that I really have missed. I was reminded this week that we get to lean back into those things that strengthened us, especially spiritually, as a family back then. I thought I'd share a few with you!
Whenever we were tempted to panic (which was often when walking through life-threatening illnesses), we'd turn to prayer instead. Here are a few things we'd do that may come in handy for your family when panic starts to set in:
1) Create an atmosphere of prayer & praise - play worship music softly in the background throughout the day (worship music is full of scriptural encouragement!), leave books lying around about the lives of the Saints (your kids will randomly pick 'em up once in awhile... yes, they will), put Saint cards around your house, make holy water available, maybe take your crucifix off you wall and place it on your dinning table to make it more noticeable for awhile. The point is, it's easier to "pray without ceasing"(1Thes.5:16) if you've got lots of reminders to do so! Whenever we take teens on retreats, we always set a holy atmosphere & it helps them pray & release their panic as soon as they enter the retreat space.
2) Invite the Lord in when things get hard or feel heavy. It didn't matter what time of the day it was, whenever my husband got really scared or panicky in his suffering through cancer, even if it was 2am, we made a plan to intentionally praise the Lord & usher in Jesus' light when things were really dark. We made that commitment to each other. We would sing, read Psalm 91 aloud (we read this Psalm every night together - it's powerful), and the little kids would dance around in their PJs... we did this until the atmosphere changed. It worked every time!
3) Pick a Catholic tool! We are so blessed as Catholics to have so many tangible ways to pray. So if one isn't fitting right, try another one! Light a holy candle, have you kids pick a novena to start to ask a Saint for help, pray the rosary (maybe even just a decade) & invite Mary in to help you, do the examination of conscience before bed, read the daily readings (we do this every morning together), or take on our personal favorite - the Divine Mercy Chaplet! There's no better way to invite in the Lord's mercy into trying situations.
I hope sharing a bit of my story will be helpful. Here's to a good retreat to you all! My family & I are praying for you.Blessings!
Amy Nash
(Helpful links: The Divine Mercy, Novenas, Lives of the Saints, Psalm 91, Praying the Rosary as a Family)
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