Tuesday, October 12, 2010

How do I put God before my other relationships?

Question: So you know that we always say that God should come first. And that he's the number one thing and all. And I totally agree with that.
But recently, I've found myself really attached to someone and putting them before God and anything related to that. I mean...what do you do? You're married and have kids, and I'm sure you love them like...ALOT. But how can you put God before them? In a manner?


Answer A very good question! If Catherine ever said to me (and I am confident that she would not) "choose me or your God", I would have to choose God. That is to say, that even if it meant losing her- and the kids- I would never abandon my faith. Neither would I allow her to compromise me by getting me to sin- suppose she was a mob boss and she wanted me to be her hit man. Or more likely, suppose she wanted me to start using contraception- since that is contrary to Catholic faith, I would sooner have to abstain from sex!

In your situation, supposing that this other is in fact a guy, you can easily see how he might intentionally or not pressure you into sinfulness. I had a dating relationship like that- had to end it.


Day to day, though. My prayer life ought to be my number one priority.

Good advice is to decide which things are your priorities, put them in a list, and make decisions accordingly. So for me, I would say faith, family, jobs, health, intellect, friends. Notice entertainment does not come into the list at all- funny how so often I will put it before family or prayer or exercise!!!

So in short, putting God first is making the decision that He is your highest priority... Then acting accordingly. Make prayer time more important than speaking with this person. It does not mean you have to spend more time with God.... Mother Teresa, as I understand, spent a whopping 3 hours in prayer each day. But, that still left her with a healthy 12 hours to work with people. Everything we do, even facebook, should be for God. But setting asside some quality time- ie prayer time- is essential to keeping the link and priority in place. And secondly, do not allow any relationship to lead you into sin. If ever a relationship is doing that, you may be forced to sacrifice that relationship for the only one that will really matter.

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