Tess read the story of Martha and Mary for bible study this week.  I try to base my own reading and journaling around what the children are studying, both to be efficient with my time and to help them flesh out what they are learning. Knecht's Practical Commentary on Holy Scripture has been such a treasure in this regard.  So wonderful! The practical application questions are challenging. 

Today's reading notes are from both this short study and an essay I read on Essentialism (do click through to her thoughts) based on this book. The premise is that we often experience great temptation to sample all the good things and experiences we hear about and as a result we spread our efforts so thin that we make little impact in any of those areas.  Instead we are encouraged to consider what is truly essential in our lives, our days, our vocations.  Do those well – Multum Non Multa. 

To discern what is essential at any given moment Lou Holtz, Notre Dame football coach, says to ask ourselves:

The acronymn obviously is WIN.  What's Important Now?  It may be most important that we stop procrastinating and finish our chores or prep for the morning.  It might be most important at a given moment that we set aside our work and listen intently to a small person with big things to say.  It might be important to go outside or say our prayers or make a call. There is no right answer for each person or each moment.  That's all discernment. 

 Knecht's commentary echoes this thought.  Instead of a pat answer, he urges us towards integration of corporal and spiritual works.  Work and rest. Martha and Mary – who both loved the Lord tremendously. 

The dissipation question was convicting and a big focus point for this year. I like to think big thoughts.  Too often they are lost in my head because the thinking is often more appealing than doing.  Big thoughts can disintegrate into daydreams, a little of which is delightful but too many, left unchecked, lead to that dissipation, a frittering away of our energy. 

Solution?  Back to that buzzword – What's Important Now – which ought to lead us towards doing the next right thing and the next.