Me and Us
Posted on: May 26, 2016
- In: Everyday Life | Faith | Family | Marriage | Parenting | Parish Activities
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With a bit of chaos in my life right now, I find it can be hard to see other people’s problems since I’m feeling overwhelmed.
As Christians, we’re called to do exactly that—to see others’ needs and help meet them, to “Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep” (Romans 12:15*).
We may find we see and try to minister to the needs in our community and beyond but fail to see the needs in our own family.
Working hard at trying new activities and attending different events with my son.
We have to remember that, when we get married or become parents, our focus has to shift from me to us. No longer do we get to think only of our preferences about where we live and work, how we balance our home and work lives, or how we’d like to spend our free time; instead, we have to think about how these choices will affect our spouse and children.
Today, we focus so much on ourselves as individuals that we struggle with this shift as a society:
- Parents work long hours to advance their careers or pursue hobbies with the same intensity they did when they were single, and they miss out on time with their children.
- Many children do extracurricular activities five nights a week, meaning family meals may be rushed or everyone eats at different times.
- Some of us are so caught up in community or parish activities that we’re too busy for family time.
That’s not to say that using our talents in our jobs, relaxing through hobbies, or taking part in the life of our parish are bad things. Far from it. But do we think too much about the me (what I want to do, what my goals are, what would make me happy) and not enough about the us (how our family is affected by our choices)?
As summer gets closer and we push the pause button on school and extracurricular activities and, just maybe, work slows down a little, the time is right to look not only at where we’re headed as individuals but at where we’re headed as a married or an engaged couple or as a family—and to ask God’s guidance in seeing where we need to make changes and in transforming our lives as a result.
(*Scripture quote taken from the Holy Bible, Revised Standard Version, 2nd Catholic Edition.)
A Catholic Convert in Ottawa 