full days, or busy days?

A good friend of mine is well known for quoting his favourite scripture verse. John, chapter 10, verse 10: "I have come that you might have life, and have it in abundance"

Note that the verse does not read? "...and have it to the busiest"

Why is it then that most people feel that they are very busy, and do not feel as though they are living fully or abundantly?

I have been pondering this a lot in these weeks.

For me, every day in the past month has been full. But, even though I have had little time to myself, I would not say that these weeks have been busy. For one week I was with 500 others in La Thuile. The week before this I was in Rimini for a meeting that drew 100.000 people every day. The week earlier I was with 300 people for a full 7 days in the Dolomite mountains. Every moment of these weeks has been filled with good company and conversation. This is the reason why the blog entries have been a bit more sparse than usual.

I think the difference between a busy life and an abundant life is to do with the depth of my internal motivation and the quality of my personal connection with others. Whenever a day is spent compulsively responding to the demands of others, and attempting to live up to my own self-expectations, I fall into bed exhausted late at night. If a day is lived with a deep awareness that I am little more than an instrument in the divine plan, I can relax.

This is the point made by all good conversation, art and literature. The Italian educationalist Luigi Giussani makes the point well in his "The Religious Sense":

"Nothing is more adequate to the nature of the human person than his original dependence. Indeed, the human being is, by nature created." p.103

When we remember that we are created by God, and held in every moment in God's loving embrace, our fears fade. Our most real and true desires emerge. We seek only what will satisfy this visible longing.

The surprise is that people who are busy feel exhausted and never seem to have enough time. Those who seek to live 'life in abundance' accomplish even more in fewer hours, and they feel as though they are truly living.

This has been my experience in these weeks of friendship.

Tomorrow I travel to Rome where I will spend a week.

Every day I remember specifically in prayer 'the readers of this blog'.

Keep me in your prayer too.