The stewardship message found in her comments, in a nutshell, is one of prioritizing. If we were to journal all of the activities of our lives for just one week, I believe we would be shocked to find out exactly how we spend our time and what activities, based on the number of hours we spend doing them, are really the most important. Would we find that we invest adequate time with our family? Would we find that our time devoted to exercise, sleep, and recreation for ourselves is sufficient for our own health? Would we find that we are spending too many hours working, too many hours in front of the television or on the computer, and not enough time just relaxing and trying to escape the rat race of our lives? Finally, would we find that the time we devote to God, to prayer and to worship, as well as the sharing of a part of our time and talents for the benefit of others is reasonable?

The first priority, from a stewardship perspective, would be to place God first on the list in terms of time. We are all familiar with the biblical tithe of 10 percent as it relates to treasure, but I would suggest that that "tithe" of our time should also relate to our time. Perhaps spending 2.4 hours per day "with God" seems an unreasonable demand on our time, but if each of us would spend some meaningful time in dialogue with Jesus seeking direction, seeking assistance, and seeking clarity for the rest of our day, it would be time well spent. It is like organizing your day, looking at all of those things that are going on, and deciding how they are all going to be dealt with. I would suggest that if we seriously spend that time seeking the counsel of Jesus that we will end up with more time rather than less time.

Another suggestion was that many of us need to delegate more and get more people involved. While this word is most often used in the work environment, we can use the term in a stewardship sense as well. There are many ministries, charitable works, and other activities that each of us is involved in that need more involvement. There are many people who would be willing and able to assist in these activities, but are not comfortable just jumping in, and they would like to be asked. Perhaps we could take a look at those activities that we feel are not getting enough assistance and we can make that concerted effort to ask others to be involved. In that way we are delegating, getting more people involved.

The society that we live in today heaps many expectations upon us and attempts to guilt us into doing those things that are popular rather than those things that are right in terms of our moral teaching. How many times do we hear that times have changed, times are changing, and that we just need to get with the times? Well, guess what? Times are changing and many changes are being made for the good of society, but there are also changes happening that we are party to and that we can do something about. I recently heard that while approximately 50-60 percent of Catholics in the United States attend Sunday Mass regularly, that number is significantly lower in Europe, about 20 percent. I have not verified these numbers, but if true, it is not hard to understand then, why changes continue to chip away at the moral foundation of our faith.

I believe that the answers to our hectic lives lies right in front of us, but we are sometimes unwilling to see this clear picture. If we were to log our time for one week, what would we find? Would we find misplaced priorities, a lack of time for God, and many activities that are only adding to the stress in our lives? Would we find that God is truly first and foremost in our lives, and that the stresses in our lives are not unbearable?