Years ago, I was a Girl Scout and a backpacker. The weight on my back taught me to keep the load light. Carry just what is needed. Nowadays, I treat my pocketbook the same way — the emptier, the better. Recently, God used it to teach me a timely spiritual lesson.
With all the carpooling I do, I “live” in my car. And being a good scout, I travel prepared. On most days, as a fortysomething grad student, I travel with my book bag besides my pocketbook. I study while waiting for my children to finish piano lessons or sports practices. But on Fridays I'm on the prayer team — to pray during a certain hour in our parish adoration chapel. So instead of my “school bag” I take along my “prayer bag” (a totebag that keeps my Bible, prayer journal, missal and Lenten reading all in one place.)
One recent Friday morning, I dropped off my car for a service appointment, unwittingly leaving my prayer bag in the trunk. I later borrowed my husband's car to go to church. As I drove along, looking forward to my time with Jesus, I noticed my bag was missing. Annoyed with myself, I silently lamented and made a mental fuss about missing all my “stuff” for my prayer time.
All I had with me was my pocketbook. (Recall, I'm a minimalist in that department.) I only had the barest necessities — the essentials. Fortunately, my rosary beads make the cut and I had them. Mid-fuss, I heard the Spirit in my heart say “that's all you need.”
I was convicted.
What are the essentials when I go before the Lord in prayer? Jesus + Me = the Relationship. Everything else is optional, non-essential. Even my cherished beads.
So I arrived at the chapel and knelt before the Presence of Jesus in the monstance, and I said, here I am, just me. No Bible, no notes, no books, nothing to define me or the relationship. Then I prayed my rosary, a good “settling in” prayer for me. It slows me down, and orients me to the mysteries of God's love in my life. Then I meditated on what I “'heard” in the car on the way over: I only need what is essential. What is essential is this relationship with Jesus. All things I need, have, want or want to change flow from, through and in Him.
“The essentials” are what the Lord calls me to all year long. But especially now, through the Lenten disciplines of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, the easy yoke and the light burden call me once again:
• to keep it simple — to find delight right where I am;
• to pare down — to better manage my waistline and my bank account;
• to prune back — keep only what allows growth; cut the rest away, especially on the calendar;
• to travel more lightly — by making my lists, then cutting them in half, so they are realistic;
• and most of all, to be present to the relationship — not the trappings — like my chapel experience with Jesus. The life application of this lesson extends infinitely, but it starts with my spouse and family and it moves out in ripples from there.
Only with Jesus do I comprehend that less is more; what is essential is the only bag He wants me to carry.
©2006 Patricia W. Gohn
Pat Gohn has been married to Bob for 23 years and has three children. Known to her friends as “majoring in carpooling and minoring in theology,” she is currently pursuing a Masters in Theology. She lives in Massachusetts and can be reached at [email protected]. Her monthly column “Ordinary Time” appears at www.catholicmom.com.
