Finding Time for God Even in the Chaos of Summer

By: Emma Novak

Imagine your perfect day. What you want to accomplish and how you will do it. Now stop

imagining and make it happen. As summer approaches, many of our routines and habits

begin to fade. Waking up at a scheduled time each day, going to school, getting to bed at a specific

time each night and all of your after-school activities have come to an end. As the school year

comes to a close, many people decide to stop all of their habits when really this is your time to be

as faithful a Catholic as possible. Otherwise, before you know it, you're going to have stopped

your daily prayers and all of the good habits you had during the school season. Make it your goal

this summer to grow in faith more than you can imagine.

Summer is a time that most people look forward to while others tend to dread it. Why? I

couldn’t tell you, but I want to give you some ways to make sure you can keep God in the center

of your summer this year, whether you are doing nothing this summer or your plans are complete

chaos. For the longest time, I would always tell myself I don’t have time to pray. I am too busy. If

you go in with that mindset, I am 99.9999% sure you won’t be getting very far this summer.

Instead of that, tell yourself “I need to find the time.” When you really start looking for the time,

you realize you have more time than you think.

Everyone’s summer is going to look different this year. Romans 12:4-6 states: "For just as

each of us has one body with many members, and those members do not all have the same

function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.

We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us." All of our goals will be

different, but it is your responsibility to decide how dedicated you are to your goals. The first task

I believe you should do before tackling your goals is actually make them! Whether it is on a piece

of scrap paper, the notes app on your phone, or a fun poster board, you need something to jot down

all of your ideas. Think of all the things you want to accomplish by the end of summer and write

them down and how you will get there.

Instead of telling yourself, you need to pray a Divine Mercy Chaplet each day and three

Rosaries, start off small and take baby steps to make your way up to your goal. If your goal is to

pray a Rosary each day, start each day by praying one Our Father, three Hail Mary’s and a Glory

Be. If you continue to add to that each day, in a week or so, you will be saying an entire Rosary.

Keep Zechariah 4:10 in mind: “Do not despise these small beginnings.” As long as you put your

mind to something, you can make progress in small steps.

I hope that after reading this you have the drive and motivation to tackle all of your goals

this summer. It’s your choice how you spend your summer this year. You can do hard things and

there is nothing stopping you.